Nascent
by BrittzandTana
Summary: It's been years that Clarke and Lexa have been together, but somehow, this is a new beginning. They aren't the same people they left behind in Polis, Virginia - no, they're stronger now, wiser, and ready to take on whatever the world hurls at them, together. AMELIORATE PART 3! 3rd installment to Pristine/Nascent! CLEXA! AU! CLARKE/LEXA!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! SO sorry that I haven't put this story up yet - to make up for the wait, I'll post the whole thing today. :)**

 **This is the third installment to Ameliorate, so if you haven't read Pristine and Nascent yet, you'll wanna do that first!**

 **Hope you all have a lovely week, and to those of you in the US, a happy thanksgiving :) (PS: I'm thankful for all of you xx)**

* * *

Lexa fumbled with the keys in her hand for a moment, before unlocking and pushing open the door to the apartment. It had been a long day of work, and she honestly was ready to strip off her clothes and take a hot bath. Unfortunately, something would keep her from doing so yet, and that something was laying across the couch in the living room with her laptop on her lap.

"Hey roomie!" Raven exclaimed with a wide grin. "How was work?"

"Long," Lexa answered with a short exhale. "Don't get me wrong, this internship is great, especially since it's paid. But learning while working is so much more complicated than one or the other."

Raven hummed thoughtfully and nodded. "I mean, that makes sense. You get to do both again soon, though, how fun is that. Are you excited for Monday?"

"For the most part," Lexa replied, going to sit next to her friend. "I mean, I'm a little nervous about starting classes at NYU. Oh, but I am happy that you'll be moving out of here on Friday." She smiled a teasing grin, and Raven rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Same, though, honestly. I'm tired of this couch. Can't wait for a real fucking bed again. Not that it really affects your life very much. I mean, you haven't skimped on the loud sex, or excessive cuteness, or anything."

"No, but we did have to wear clothes every time we left the bedroom," Lexa justified.

Raven rolled her eyes. "Please, I've seen Clarke naked before. You two could've strolled around in your birthday suits. I would've gotten used to it." Lexa furrowed her eyebrows as Raven looked at her in mock seriousness.

"You're ridiculous." Lexa stood again and began to make her way to kitchen. "Are you excited for Monday?"

"Hell yeah!" Raven did actually sound genuinely excited. "It's the beginning of my last fucking year of school, of course I'm excited. I'm starting to get why Clarke and Luna were so happy with two year degrees. I'm so ready to no longer be stuck doing school all the goddamn time. What are you grabbing from the fridge?"

"Beer, you want one?"

"Yes please!"

Lexa grabbed two beers from the fridge and then went back into the living area, passing one to the older brunette. "Clarke is bringing pizza, by the way."

"Awesome. Living with you two is the best. All you ever eat is takeout and pizza."

"That's not true."

"It really is."

"Okay well, neither of us can cook at all. It's basically ingrained in our genetics that we can't cook. At least it is for me. My mother has tried to learn how to cook so many times, and failed. Clarke... well, Abby doesn't seem soft enough to enjoy cooking, and the only way I can imagine her doing so would be if she was the chef of a fancy restaurant – yelling at everyone the whole time," Lexa thought aloud, frowning.

Raven released a loud laugh at the thought. "Oh god, I can totally picture that. I never actually met Abby, but I've seen pictures of her and well, I have a pretty good idea of how she acts based on all of the shit I've heard you and Clarke say about her."

"She's not a very fun person."

The door suddenly swung open again, and Clarke pushed her way into the room, carrying a box of pizza with her. "I hate driving in this city."

"As long as that's the only thing that you hate," Raven chimed, "gimme pizza!"

Clarke set the box down on the little dining table and looked Raven with a pointed expression. "You can have pizza if you've done your chores."

Raven pouted. "But mom."

"You guys are so weird," Lexa said, rolling her eyes. Blue eyes turned to look at the younger brunette and Clarke immediately grinned.

"Hey," she said softly, stepping forward and pressing her lips against Lexa's. Lexa hummed contently against them, leaning into the blonde and forgetting that she had a beer can in her hand, which nearly spilled everywhere. When Clarke's tongue slid between Lexa's lips tentatively, they were broken out of their reverie by Raven coughing awkwardly.

"Okay you two, you only have to deal with me for a couple more days," she muttered dejectedly. Clarke pulled away from Lexa and they both rolled their eyes simultaneously at their friend, who was now walking over to the table to claim her slices of pizza.

"How was your guys' days?" Clarke asked, and she also took a seat at the table. Lexa took the liberty of grabbing her girlfriend a drink before doing the same.

"Mine was long," Lexa answered lamely.

Raven shrugged. "I had work, and then I came home and saw an email from NYU. Gave me the whole rundown on move-in day and how to sign up for all the clubs and shit on campus. I feel like a freshman again."

Lexa groaned. "Now I don't want to check my email."

"Hey, you don't have to turn up on campus until Monday."

"Not true," Lexa argued, "because I have to go pick up my finalized class schedule and everything on Saturday, same as you. Difference is, I get to come back here afterward, and you'll be staying on campus in a tiny dorm room."

"I'm excited for my tiny dorm room, thank you very much."

Clarke laughed. "I don't envy either of you. I'm very happy to wake up every morning and go work in a beautiful gallery, where I don't have to learn stuff and hand in pointless assignments."

"Yeah yeah, college isn't for you and you're three years out of it, we get it," Raven muttered with a shake of her head.

"Not a full three years yet," Clarke corrected, though she was smirking knowingly.

Lexa made an indignant noise. "I like school," she admitted, grabbing a piece of pizza. "I mean, it's a lot of work, but I like it."

"Wow, that's so surprising," Raven deadpanned, and Lexa glared at her. "What? It's not like we thought you hated school. School's literally your entire life. You're the biggest nerd that I know."

"Hey, don't be meant to my girlfriend," Clarke snapped, and Raven grinned at her.

Lexa rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I know that I'm a nerd. But school is not literally my entire life."

"Yeah, I know, fifty percent of your life is fucking Clarke." Clarke and Lexa's jaws both dropped, and Raven just stuffed some pizza in her mouth. "What?" she demanded with her mouth full. "It's true."

Half an hour later finally found Clarke and Lexa in their bedroom, and Raven announced that she was going to go over to Monty, Jasper and Bellamy's place for the evening. Their apartment was relatively close to the boys' place, and it was also not too far from Octavia and Lincoln's place. They intentionally tried to find apartments pretty close to one another. They were only a short drive away from campus – since Monty and Lexa would both have to drive there every day – which was nice considering that Raven would also be living there now.

"How was your day?" Lexa asked Clarke as she stepped into the bathroom to take down her hair from the ponytail that it had been held in.

"Nice," Clarke replied, joining her in front of the bathroom mirror. "Some investors came into the gallery today and my boss let me talk to them, which was cool. They were interested in some of my work, too, so I gave them my card. They'll probably forget and never look, but it's still nice that they asked."

"Please, how could they forget a face like yours?" Lexa rolled her eyes, pleased to see a smile spread across her girlfriend's face as she did so. "Well, that's awesome either way. I still think it's lame that you haven't gotten to put anything up at the gallery even though you work there."

Clarke shrugged, leaning forward against the counter. "I don't know, I guess it makes sense. I'm still up and coming, I guess. The gallery is full of art from people who have been popular for a while."

"You've been selling your art for years, though," Lexa argued. "Just because you were doing it on etsy shouldn't lessen that."

"You're probably right, but I'm content to wait," Clarke said softly. "Why was your day long? Was it bad?"

"No, just really tiring. Every day interning at the office is either really exciting or really stressful. I guess it's because since I don't yet have a degree, there are lots of things that I can't really do when I'm there, but a whole lot for me to learn while they make me do things that I can do... I don't know, I love it, but I just wanna take a long, hot bath now and sleep," Lexa admitted.

Clarke's lips turned up into a soft smile, moving over to the shower bath and running the water to fill up the tub. "Let's take a bath then."

They stripped out of their clothes pretty quickly, eyes lingering on each other's naked forms without shame, while the water ran. A few minutes later, they were settled in the hot water, Lexa lying between Clarke's legs comfortably. They laid there quietly for a good few minutes, soaking in the water pleasantly, before Lexa finally spoke again. "I'm kind of nervous to start classes."

"What? Why?"

"I'm not going to know anybody," Lexa admitted. "Starting college at Polis was easy. Lots of the people that I'd known through high school were going to be going there – including Anya and Luna. And the campus wasn't too huge, so even if I wasn't close to one of them, there was always someone else I knew close by. Or even my mom. But now, Raven and Monty will be in a totally different part of campus than me, and I'll be in classes with all new faces."

"I'm sure you'll be okay, though," Clarke reassured her, "I mean, you're awesome, so they're all going to love you. And I'm sure there are quite a few people who transfer every year, or switch majors, who also won't know everyone. There's probably no need to be nervous."

"Yeah, you're probably right. At least I'm not living on campus. If I had to get used to having another awful roommate like before, I might've died."

Clarke chuckled. "Well we definitely can't have that. Plus, I think I'm quite happy with you living with me, and not with some terrible human being in a tiny little dorm room."

"Yes, you're definitely preferable to something like that."

They were quiet again, and Lexa sighed happily as she melted into Clarke's embrace, the blonde's arms wrapping around her tightly. "I love you," the blonde murmured softly, and Lexa felt a smile appearing on her lips involuntarily.

"I love you, too."

* * *

"Is that everything?" Clarke asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she glanced at the suitcases surrounding her friend. Raven didn't really have any furniture to move – considering that she was moving into a furnished dorm room, of course – so it was just her suitcases of clothes and things that they were worried about. Plus, it wasn't like she couldn't come back later to get anything if she'd forgotten. Still, Clarke had taken off work to help her friend move into the dorm at NYU.

"Yep," Raven confirmed. "Let's go toss it in your car and you can follow me to the dorm."

"Sure." They grabbed up all of the suitcases and pulled them down the hallway from apartment number 307 – the seventh apartment on the third floor, that is – and then down the elevator. That was one nice thing about this apartment building – there was actually an elevator. After having to deal with just one flight of stairs at their old place, Clarke was more than happy to not have to deal with three now.

They set all of Raven's suitcases into the back of Clarke's car once they'd gotten to it. There was a parking garage of sorts under the apartment building, which was really nice. They only had two parking spaces, which made parking Raven's car pretty difficult, but the brunette had gotten very good at spot hopping.

Clarke drove her car behind Raven's, through the ever busy city, until they were on the NYU campus and approaching the dorm buildings. It was upperclassmen move in day, from what Clarke understood, so most of the freshmen would've already moved in a few days prior. However, there were a plethora of upperclassmen moving in, so Raven and Clarke were not alone in lugging bags up into dorm rooms.

When they got to Raven's room, she let out a relieved breath. "I'm so glad I have a single room. Can you imagine if I had to fucking share with someone? Never again."

Clarke smirked. "It's a wonder that you managed to handle sharing an apartment with me and Lexa for a whole summer."

"Yeah, whatever," Raven muttered, rolling her eyes. "I actually like you guys, so it wasn't so bad." She dropped the bags she was carrying onto her bed, and Clarke set the other bags down on the ground. "Oh, by the way, next Saturday, Octavia is making us all go out for like, and end of summer celebration or something. Don't ask me why. I think she's bummed that we've all been so busy working and shit."

"We haven't gotten to all hang out very much at once this summer, so I understand where she's coming from. Is everyone going?"

"Yeah, Monty confirmed that the guys will be there. And obviously Lincoln and O. You and Lexa are the last of all of us to confirm."

"Considering that we didn't know about it before you just told me right now, I have to say that I'm not really surprised," Clarke bounced back, shaking her head. "I'll let Lexa know. We should be good that Saturday. Lexa doesn't work on the weekends, so as long as her first week of classes doesn't leave her with two days worth of homework."

Raven nodded. "Cool. Just let O know." She stretched her arms up over her head and looked around the room. "Thanks for helping me bring all this shit here. I feel at home already."

"You'd feel at home almost anywhere," Clarke reasoned with a raised eyebrow.

"Whatever. I'll see you later, C. I know you wanna get home and paint your heart out."

A smile materialized on Clarke's face. "I kinda do. See you, Rae."

* * *

"How was your first week?" Lexa asked Anya through her car's blue tooth as she drove home from work. Polis U had started classes a week earlier than NYU, so Anya had already been roped once again into the swing of things.

"Fine," Anya replied lamely. "I mean, definitely not bad. But that guy Luke that I went out with in January is in one of my classes, and he started asking me why I stopped talking to him."

"Sounds... fun."

"Don't even try," Anya groaned. "It was so awful. I literally just stopped talking to him, and started sitting on the other side of the classroom from him last year. At the time, he just kind of accepted it and we didn't talk. I bet we both just hoped we wouldn't end up in a class together again."

"It's not like there are that many people at Polis U in pre-law," Lexa reminded her friend.

"Yeah well. He asked me if he'd done something wrong, and I just gave him a vague answer about being interested in someone else at the time, and it being complicated. He seemed to accept that."

Lexa hummed thoughtfully, wondering how to word the question that she wanted to ask. "So. Speaking of that. Have you and Luna uncomplicated things yet?"

"Things have been uncomplicated for a while."

"No, not true," Lexa denied, rolling her eyes. "Sure, it's good that you two got over your fight and started actually allowing yourself to feel emotions – and when I mean you two, I mean you... That wasn't what I meant, though. I mean have you two gotten over yourself and just admitted that you two are dating, as girlfriends?"

Anya scoffed. "Just because we haven't labeled what we're doing doesn't mean we aren't dating. Obviously we're dating. We don't have to be girlfriends to do that."

"No, but you two are clearly in love with each other. I mean, I know that Luna loves you, and just because you're too scared to say it doesn't mean that you aren't too."

"Look, Lexa, I can't go any faster than my max speed, okay? I know how I feel about Luna, and she knows too. Even if I haven't explicitly said it, she knows. And when I'm ready to say it, I will. There are a lot of other factors to my relationship with her, okay?"

Lexa bit down on her lip, trying to keep herself from starting anything. What she wanted to ask next was if the other factors included her family, which she knew the answer to. Anya's parents would very likely not approve of her dating a girl, and they were the reason that Anya had spent so long in denial about the fact that she had feelings for Luna. Luna, as in love as she was, was seemingly fine with going at Anya's pace, but Lexa knew that even Luna had limits. She was worried that her best friends would end up resenting each other, and she wished that she could help prevent it. "Okay," she finally said. "I should probably go, I'm almost home, and I'm surprising Clarke with Chipotle."

"Of course you are," Anya teased. "I'll text you later. I expect to hear about your class schedule and whatnot tomorrow!"

"Sure, bye!"

"Bye!" Lexa quickly hit the button on the dashboard to end the call before refocusing entirely on the road. One reason that she was excited to start classes at NYU was that it was pretty close to her work, so she wouldn't have to drive from one to the other. She was planning on walking from one to the other around her schedule, and then back to whichever place her car was at. Or, depending on how her schedule ended up, she might see if Clarke could drop her off and pick her up on some days. Her girlfriend did drive past the main campus on her way to work every day.

Smiling to herself, she pulled into the parking garage for the apartment building. The summer had been great – focusing on interning while Clarke got a job at an art gallery while still creating and selling her own artwork. But she was definitely excited to continue school here in New York – which was feeling more and more like home as time passed.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ooh, look Lexa. It's a nerd club for you to join!"

"Ha."

Raven was grinning wildly, and Monty rolled his eyes. "Come on, Raven, as if you aren't a huge geek and nerd."

"He's got a point," Lexa agreed, causing Raven to scoff and shake her head. "I just wanna get my schedule and leave. I don't need to join any of this stuff. I'll have enough on my hands with school and work."

"Agreed," Monty piped up. "Where do we do that exactly?"

They finally managed to figure out where to grab their weekly schedules, as well as meal tickets in Raven's case. However, despite the fact that Raven was going to be living on campus, she had forewarned all of her friends that she would be invading their homes pretty often. No one really blamed her, though Clarke was convinced that Raven would end up making at least some new friends on campus that she would get to hang out with near her own dorm.

Lexa wondered if she'd make a whole lot of new friends. She was sure that there would be some people she'd meet and get along with, but she felt like her family of friends was enough for her, and that she didn't need anymore people. Still, she wouldn't close herself off from the possibility. She was only twenty, after all.

Thinking about that made her think of her twenty first birthday, which was coming up in two months. She was pretty excited to be able to go clubbing with Clarke and her friends legally. Since moving to New York City, Octavia had organized two times that they all went out to go clubbing. During both of those times, Lexa had to use her fake ID, and she was honestly excited to no longer have to do that.

Honestly, though, her life wouldn't change too much. It wasn't like she wasn't used to drinking. She was just never the one buying the drinks.

Lexa, Monty and Raven found a spot in the big area of campus where all the club booths were set up away from other people in order to look at their schedules without getting bumped into. "Oh cool, everything I requested worked out," Raven said, pleased. "No early morning classes, and only one class in the week goes past five. It's gonna be a good last year."

"Same!" Monty exclaimed with joy, grinning at Raven. "How's your schedule look, Lex?"

Lexa shrugged. "Fine. Most of what I requested went through. No classes on Friday, so that's nice. But I have an early morning class on Wednesday."

"Middle of the week, that's hard," Raven said apologetically. "Eh, you'll survive, though."

"Yeah, but it looks like I should be able to work at least three days a week for some amount of time, which is what I told my boss I'd hopefully be able to do. Which is nice. Working any less than that would probably make paying rent harder, so I'm glad that should work out," Lexa commented.

"Look at you, having your life together far earlier than you should," Monty teased with a grin, and they all headed back to the lot where they'd parked.

"I blame the fact that I've been dating someone three and a half years older than me since before I even finished high school," Lexa offered up.

"That's probably a legit reason."

"So you've been getting more and more mature, meanwhile Clarke still acts like a teenager. You've cursed her."

Lexa smirked. "Oh well."

"But speaking of you and Clarke," Raven said slowly, and Lexa immediately became suspicious about her mischievous tone, "I was wondering if you guys ever thought about... I don't know. Like. Taking another step forward."

Lexa raised both of her eyebrows. "Um. What?"

"You know. Tying the knot."

Monty rolled his eyes. "Really, Raven?"

"What! I'm just saying. Well... actually, what prompted me to say anything is that... eh, uh, well. Bellamy and I made a bet the other day," Raven said awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.

"What bet?"

Raven coughed, shaking her head. "It's nothing really."

"Raven..."

"Well... he thinks that Lincoln and Octavia are gonna get married before you and Clarke do. But you guys have been relationship goals for so long that I'm pretty sure you'd do it first. So I was just... wondering."

"You're ridiculous," Lexa stated, shaking her head. "Though, I would think that Bellamy would have more faith in me and Clarke. I mean, when we first started dating, he and Octavia were really the only ones who didn't think that we were fucking up."

"Hey, that's not true!" Raven exclaimed in defense. "I totally supported you two."

"I'm sorry, if I recall correctly, you were so put off my me being in the warehouse that you somehow managed to ask 'didn't I have school' on a Saturday," Lexa reminded her friend.

Monty smirked. "Lexa has a point. All of us thought it was kind of weird when it started."

"I mean, yeah. But not because of the age thing... okay, partially because of the age thing. But mostly because you slept with Finn."

Lexa made a face of disgust. "I did not!"

"Okay, but almost."

"So? I was seventeen! I was stupid!"

"Yeah, and a week later you were all over Clarke. Still stupid?"

Lexa crossed her arms indignantly as they approached their cars. "Whatever, think what you want."

"But about that marriage shit..."

"I have no clue. Happy?"

Raven sighed, shrugging. "Sure, whatever. I'm gonna head up to my dorm. I still haven't unpacked all my clothes."

"What were you doing all day yesterday?" Monty gave her a weird look.

"Sleeping, honestly. I'm saving up my energy for classes starting next week. Not excited. I'll see you guys later!" Raven gave them both a wave and then started off to her dorm building. Monty and Lexa exchanged a funny expression.

"She's crazy."

"Yes, she is."

* * *

"Holy fuck!" Lexa exclaimed, her fists tightening their hold on the sheets below her as her body tried to arch upwards, only to be held down fast by Clarke's hands. "Fuck! Clarke!" Clarke's tongue worked magic in between her legs, though she was delaying Lexa's orgasm further and further, and the brunette was not too happy about that. "Clarke!" she whined, and Clarke finally gave in. In a matter of seconds, Lexa felt her entire body tense and then shudder in relief as she let out a loud moan.

Clarke pulled her face out from between Lexa's legs, licking her lips. Though neither of them would admit the embarrassing truth to Raven since they'd honestly failed miserably, they'd been trying their best to be quiet when having sex while their friend had been living with them. Now, it felt so nice to be able to be loud and unapologetic. Honestly, Clarke was happy to hear her girlfriend be so loud again, even if she usually teased her for it.

"Fuck," Lexa murmured breathlessly, feeling Clarke press gentle kisses up her hips, across her belly, and then to her breasts. Lexa let out a quiet whine as the blonde teased her there for a moment, but then their lips were pressed together softly, and Lexa relaxed. "Well, that was a nice hello."

"I missed you," Clarke murmured, and moved her lips to press a soft kiss on the brunette's neck.

"I've only been gone a few hours."

"Yes, but you left while I was still asleep, which totally wasn't fair," Clarke insisted. "I didn't get the chance to ask, though. How's your schedule look?"

"Not bad," Lexa answered, turning and sliding her arms around the blonde. "Should be able to work Monday, Wednesday and Friday as well. No classes Friday."

"That's nice," Clarke murmured softly.

"Wanna hear something else that's interesting?"

"Mm?"

"Raven and Bellamy are betting on who would get married first – you and me, or O and Lincoln."

Clarke's noise scrunched slightly. "Who's betting on who?"

"Raven thinks us, apparently Bell things Octavia and Lincoln."

"That fucking traitor."

Lexa giggled. "They're all crazy. It feels kind of weird that most of our friends are single. They're all very likable people."

"Not gonna lie, I secretly shipped Bell and Rae for a while. They used to sleep together in college before Raven and Octavia became official besties, at which point Octavia shut it down," Clarke admitted. "They all never mention it because it feels weird now to think about."

"I honestly have trouble picturing Raven being in a relationship with anybody," Lexa said sadly. "I mean, she's not very... soft."

"Neither was I before I met you," Clarke reminded the brunette pointedly.

"And now you're mushy as fuck."

"No."

"Yes."

"Maybe a little."

"A lot."

"No."

"Yes."

Before their back and forth could continue, Lexa's phone began to ring from the nightstand. Clarke groaned. "Don't answer it, I'm comfy."

"Let me just see who it is," Lexa insisted. She tugged herself away from the blonde a little and reached for her phone. She glanced at the name flashing on the screen and sighed. "It's Aden. I should pick up."

"Fine. Ugh. That kid is such a cock block."

"Did you really just say cock block?"

Clarke made a disgusted face. "Yes. I'm never going to ever again."

Lexa smirked, sliding the answer bar and bringing her phone to her ear. "Hey, Aden. What's up?"

"I start eighth grade on Monday," Aden said, sounding rather put off by this fact.

"Yes, I recall you mentioning that. You don't want to?"

"No," Aden admitted dejectedly. "Evan's older brother told us that eighth grade is hard, and also I totally embarrassed myself in front of a girl at the park a few days ago and now I can't face anybody."

Lexa couldn't help but laugh lightly. "I'm sure you'll be fine, Aden."

"You don't know that!"

"If it makes you feel better," she offered, as Clarke's hand found hers and began to play with her fingers, "I'm also starting school on Monday."

"But it's college. It's different."

"Yeah, but I've never gone to school at this college. Lots of the people who are going to be in my classes have already known each other for two years, and I'm gonna be like the new kid," Lexa said. She was trying to not get distracted by Clarke playing with her hand, but it was rather distracting.

Aden let out an annoyed puff of air. "Well I don't want to go. Can't I just run away to New York and go to college with you?"

"I don't think running away really solves any problems, Aden."

"I'm tired of living here. My dad isn't home very often, and my mom's getting worse," Aden claimed sadly. "She's always mad. I mean, she doesn't really yell at me or anything, but she doesn't talk much when she's mad and she doesn't make dinner anymore, which is weird. She's starting to go out more often too. It sucks. And you're only like an hour away! I could take a bus!"

Lexa sighed. "Aden, you can't run away. I'm really sorry about your parents – but there's nothing I can do to help you other than talk to you."

"I know," Aden muttered. "Ugh, I have to go. My mom just got home. Bye, Lexa."

"Bye, Aden." The line ended, and Lexa sighed, setting her phone back on her nightstand and then looking to Clarke. "I feel so bad for him. I thought that my dad would at least care enough to make sure his second kid lived a happy life, but he's apparently barely even home and his wife sounds like an asshole."

Clarke frowned. "That sucks. What's with parents these days? I feel like everyone's parents are fucked up."

"Not everyone's," Lexa argued, though out of their friend group, most of them were not so close with their parents. "I mean, my mom's awesome. Octavia and Bellamy have great parents. I mean, sure they never come to visit, but the two of them always go visit them and they don't have any issues with them. And then... well, I guess I don't know anything about Jasper's parents or Monty's. And Raven isn't close with her parents, is she? Oh! Luna has a good relationship with her parents – they're pretty nice actually. Her mom wasn't home very often because of work, but I mean, still."

Clarke laughed lightly. "Yeah, well. I guess only some people can be so lucky. Honestly, I'm glad your mom is so great. It's nice to feel like I have a parent."

"I'd say that my mom loves you more than she loves me, but then I remember that I'm getting a four year degree and you got a two year degree, so she probably does love me more," Lexa teased, and Clarke scrunched her nose again, rolling her eyes.

"Please. Alexandria loves me way more. She told me so once."

"Sure she did."

"I mean, she may as well have."

Lexa smirked. "You're ridiculous."

"You're cute."

"So I've heard."

"Wow, conceited much?"

"I guess it's your fault for complimenting me so much."

"Fuck off."

"No."

Clarke bit back a grin. "I love you."

"I love you too."


	3. Chapter 3

Lexa sat in her Monday morning class somewhat awkwardly, waiting for it to begin. This was her new main psych course – the name of which she honestly couldn't recall, but she knew that it was the only class that she had twice a week. She usually went for the longer classes once a week, but this one had worked out better if she took it for an hour and fifteen minutes on Monday, and the same length again on Thursday.

Most of the people who had entered the lecture hall had come in with someone else by their side, and Lexa felt somewhat left out, since she knew no one. This was definitely a new thing for her – not only not knowing someone, but being particularly bothered by it. She supposed that she'd gotten used to always having people to lean on, and now she had nobody.

At least, for the next hour and fifteen minutes.

Suddenly, a girl with strangely bright brown eyes and curly red hair sat down next to her, smiling. "Hi! I've never seen you around before? Are you a transfer, or have we just never been lucky enough to have a class together?"

Lexa's mouth opened slightly to answer, but then she slammed it closed again, wondering if she'd heard the girl correctly. "I transferred."

"Cool, from where?"

"Polis University."

The girl frowned. "Never heard of it. Where is it exactly?"

Lexa sighed. "Virginia."

"Oh, that's cool. So you escaped that place and made it to New York halfway through your four year degree?" the girl asked curiously, propping her chin up on the palm of her hand. "My name is Ashley, by the way. Yours?"

"Lexa," Lexa replaced suspiciously. "Yeah, a lot of my friends decided to move here, and so I transferred." The girl raised a curious eyebrow and then batted her eyelashes a little, causing Lexa to cough awkwardly and add, "And my girlfriend, so."

"Oh, cool. Do they go to NYU too?"

"Um. Two of my friends do. But they're all a few years older than me, so it's their last year," Lexa admitted.

"Do you like NYU so far?"

Lexa shrugged. "It's nice. I haven't really been on campus much, though."

"You don't live on campus?"

"No. I live with my girlfriend," Lexa explained, though she was sure that Ashley should've figured that out already.

"Shame. Living on campus is great, because it's so easy to get the frat parties that way," Ashley claimed with a wide grin. "You're going to go to the one on Saturday, right? The first frat party of the year is always so awesome."

Lexa furrowed her eyebrows. "No, I'm going out with some friends on Saturday."

"Bummer. We could've had fun."

Lexa was completely caught off guard by this whole conversation. Lexa could not remember the last time that someone had hit on her – aside from Clarke of course – and it was honestly weird to deal with. Especially considering that Lexa had mentioned Clarke twice now, and the girl had still not stepped down.

Lexa wasn't sure what else to say, and luckily at that point, the professor strutted into the room and began to speak. Lexa immediately turned to face him and listen to the lecture that was beginning, but she didn't miss how Ashley took a few more seconds to stare at her before turning to face the front of the hall as well.

Clarke tucked stretched her legs across Bellamy's couch in the living room of what was commonly referred to as "the guys' apartment". Her best friend was grabbing them both a soda, since Clarke would be driving home after hanging out for a little while. She was only here because she got off work early, and Lexa was still working. She'd gotten a test from her girlfriend around lunch saying that her two morning classes had gone well and that she was going to head into work.

Clarke hated going home to an empty apartment, if she was being honest, because it was always depressing to be there without Lexa. Unless, of course, she was painting, but she'd decided to go over to the guys' place instead.

"So, Lexa started classes today, right?"

"Yup. She was nervous, but she said that they went well. She went straight to work after, so I'm alone until she's off."

"Well, not right now, because you're here."

"So that I won't have to be alone, correct," Clarke confirmed, chuckling as Bellamy came around to the front of the couch and handed her the soda. She took it gratefully and pulled her feet up to allow him space to sit down. "Where are Jasper and Monty?"

"Work," Bellamy answered dismissively.

They were quiet for a moment, and Clarke let her thoughts creep up to her. Exhaling deeply, she looked to her friend curiously. "So what do you miss most about Polis?"

Bellamy looked surprised at the question. "Um. I don't know."

"The warehouse," Clarke stated, and he nodded in agreement. "I miss us all being able to be so close all the time. I mean, it's not like we're that far now, but it was always a guarantee that I'd get to see you all at the end of the week. It's really all I miss about Polis though. Aside from, obviously, the rest of our friends."

"I agree. It's harder to make plans to hang out than to just know that you'll see each other anyway. That's why college was nice, too. We'd all see each other on campus at least."

Clarke nodded and then sipped her soda. "Well. On a different note. What's with your bet with Raven?"

"What bet?"

"Don't play dumb, Bell. Ha, dumbbell." Clarke smiled to herself, and then remembered what she'd been asking. "Why are you two betting on whether Lexa and I will get married before Lincoln and Octavia do?"

"Because it's a legitimate question," Bellamy insisted. "I already know that Lincoln is it for Octavia – she told me in a rare moment of us having a deep conversation instead of just teasing each other. And well... I'm pretty sure Lincoln feels the same way. And you and Lexa are obviously eternally in love. So it's a good thing to bet over, because it's bound to happen one way or the other."

"What if I'm not ready to get married?" Clarke asked, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.

"Then Raven loses the bet, doesn't matter to me."

Clarke rolled her eyes. "No, but really. Should I be ready to get married?" Bellamy realized suddenly that this was serious, and the corners of his lips turned down.

"I don't know, Clarke. Everybody is different. I mean, what is marriage really, though? It really doesn't mean much about the stance of your relationship, other than that if you wanted to end it, you'd have to go through more effort, and that the law finally recognizes it as a legitimate thing. It's not like getting married places a bunch of new rules or standards on you," Bellamy explained, Clarke listening intently. "You're almost halfway through your twenties. Lots of people get married around this age, but that doesn't mean that you have to be ready for that. Plus, Lexa is years younger than you, so she could quite possibly be nowhere near ready."

Clarke bit down on her lower lip. It wasn't that the thought of marrying Lexa was at all off putting. It was marriage itself, which in her mind held some connotations that she wasn't quite comfortable with. For example, it seemed like a lot of married couples ended up divorced.. Her parents, for example, and that had obviously gone badly for everyone but her mother. Maybe that wasn't even it exactly – but rather the idea that something so precious could turn so toxic so quickly.

But Bellamy was right. This wasn't something that she had to decide now, or possibly not even soon.

All she knew was that she loved Lexa, and Lexa loved her, and that was enough for her.

"Whoa there, C, what are you thinking about?" Bellamy asked, concern lacing his voice.

"Just... nothing, it's fine. I'm okay. I should go home. Lexa will be home soon," Clarke said quickly, standing and setting her soda down on the coffee table. "I'll see you Saturday if not before."

"Yeah, of course," Bellamy agreed, though he was frowning.

Clarke nodded once at him, and then quickly bolted.

She was not okay with this bet her friends were making. It was bringing up too many questions in her head, and reminding her of this commitment issue that she had once had that had since dulled considerably. Committing to Lexa had been easy, because she loved the brunette so fucking much. But marriage was an entirely different commitment.

She decided to crush the bet before it could bother her anymore, and she grabbed her phone as she found her car outside. She leaned against the vehicle and called Raven's contact. Her friend answered in a matter of seconds.

"Hey, C! What's up?"

"I want you to shut down your bet with Bellamy."

Raven was silent for a moment, clearly caught off guard. "What?"

"Your bet about marriage and that shit. I want you to call it off. Please. I'm practically having an emotional crisis right now."

"Wait, are you okay? What's wrong? It was just a silly bet, Clarke, it wasn't meant to stress you out or anything. No one is expecting you and Lexa to get married any time soon or before either of you are ready," Raven rushed out.

"Yeah well, whether it was meant to or not, it did. I don't think I have ever thought about marriage since high school, Raven."

"Wait, seriously? You never thought that you might end up marrying Lexa one day?"

Clarke squeezed her eyes shut. "It's a fucking miracle that I ever even worked up the courage to commit to Lexa at all, Raven. I love her more than anything in the whole fucking world, but marriage is weird shit, okay? And I don't need to be married to Lexa to be committed to her."

"Of course not," Raven reassured her, "it's just... I mean, marriage is generally the next step up from dating. But of course, you don't have to do that now, or ever if you and Lexa are cool with that. The bet was stupid, okay? I'll tell Bellamy that we have to call if it off if it's stressing you out that much."

"Thank you."

"But, C, I also don't think that you should completely rule out marriage just yet. You and Lexa are both still young – you have plenty of time to figure that shit out."

"Yeah."

"I'll... see you later?"

"Sure. Bye, Rae." Clarke pulled the phone away from her ear and hit the end call button, before taking in a deep breath. She didn't want to think about this anymore.

* * *

Lexa was home before Clarke was, which she assumed was because the blonde had gone over to someone else's apartment to wait for Lexa to get home. But when she sent a text to her girlfriend to let her know that she was home, she didn't get a response.

In fact, it wasn't until twenty minutes after she got home that the door to the apartment opened and Clarke came in. "Hey, babe," Clarke called, and Lexa jumped up from where she'd been seated on the bed with her laptop.

"Hey. Where were you?"

"I was at Bellamy's for a while," Clarke said, "and then I stopped by the store to buy some soda." She gestured to the bag she was carrying, and Lexa nodded. "How was your day?"

"Fine," Lexa replied, shrugging. "I met someone in my math class – the guy I got stuck sitting next to – who was pretty nice. But the class before that... I met some girl – Ashley – who wouldn't stop hitting on me."

Clarke scoffed. "I already don't like her. Though, I can't blame her. You're quite the catch."

Lexa chuckled. "I very clearly told her that I am very much not single, but she wouldn't cut it out. It was really weird. I haven't been hit on by a random since high school."

"That's because Polis is a small place and everyone there knew that if they came near you, I would destroy them."

"Is this a jealous side of you that I've never seen before?" Lexa asked, quirking up an eyebrow as a grin spread over her face.

"Um no. I'm not jealous."

"Sure you're not."

"I'm just protective."

"I know that, but I've seen protective Clarke before, and she was different than this clearly jealous Clarke I'm seeing right now."

Clarke put the soda into the fridge and then faced Lexa with her arms crossed over her chest. "It's not jealousy unless she has something that I don't have – which is not the case. In fact, she's really the jealous one, because you're my girlfriend, and she will never have you."

Lexa bit down on her lower lip. "Well, you're not wrong there. Okay, so I guess I can just all this like... level two of protective Clarke."

Clarke shook her head. "What's with you and all our friends coming up with different versions of me? I'm just Clarke."

"Just Clarke?"

"Yep."

Lexa batted her eyelashes, stepping back a little toward the bedroom. "Well, that's unfortunate, because I kinda thought that protective Clarke was pretty hot."

Clarke took a meaningful step forward. "Oh?"

"Mmhmm." Lexa bit on the inside of her lip and slowly grabbed the edges of her shirt, pulling it up and over her head and dropping it uselessly onto the ground next to her. Clarke watched her carefully, her blue eyes soaking up her appearance as if it were the first time she'd gotten to see Lexa's body.

Lexa loved that.

She continued by unbuttoning her pants and letting them pool loosely around her ankles before stepping out of them. "Are you just gonna stand over there?" Clarke took another slow step forward. "I mean, I could just take care of myself..."

"Ha, like hell you will," Clarke growled, finally closing the distance between them and pressing her lips to Lexa's, her hands finding their way to the brunette's waist. She gently pushed Lexa backwards and into the bedroom, but instead of leading her to the bed, she turned them slightly and pushed her up against the bare wall. Lexa let out a slight noise in response to the sudden cold drywall against her back, but it was soon forgotten as Clarke's hands made quick work of removing her undergarments. The unnecessary articles of clothing were gone in a flash, somewhere across the room, and then Clarke's lips were pressing hot, wet kisses across her breasts desperately.

"Fuck," Lexa moaned, arching her back away from the wall slightly and trying to somehow increase the contact between her chest and Clarke's lips. "Fuck, Clarke!"

Clarke released Lexa's nipple, which she had been toying with with her tongue, and began to trail her teeth and tongue down across Lexa's midsection. Lexa whimpered, needy, as Clarke made it to her waist. She pushed her hips forward, and Clarke smiled against her skin, dragging her hot tongue across the skin there.

"Clarke, I'm so wet," Lexa whined, and Clarke finally relented, pushing apart Lexa's legs and going straight for her center. "Fuck!" Lexa cried out. Her breathing began to pick up, and soon she was panting, unable control the movement of her hips as they tried to get more and more friction. The wall became her entire support, and she threw her head back as she started to come. "Holy – Clarke!"

Clarke was pressing soft kisses along the inside of her thighs when Lexa felt herself coming down. "See, I can't be jealous," Clarke murmured, "because no one else gets to make you scream like that."

"No one else," Lexa agreed, entirely breathless.

"That said," Clarke continued, standing up straight now and leaning her body into Lexa's, "if the bitch touches you, I'm not above committing murder."

"Yes you are."

"I guess we'll find out if the Ashley bitch touches you."

Lexa blushed. "How was your day?"

"Tiring. Stressful, actually. I just wanted to see you all day."

"You're seeing me now," Lexa murmured, wrapping her arms around Clarke's waist and gently pushing her backwards toward the bed. "Are you less stressed now?"

"For the most part."

"I bet I could help a little more."

Clarke grinned cheekily. "Please do."


	4. Chapter 4

"How was your first week of classes?" Luna asked happily through the phone, and Lexa smiled. She hadn't gotten the chance to talk to Luna all week, because her friend had been helping her dad remodel his house. Apparently, her dad was planning on moving to where her mom had been working for the past year, since he no longer had to stay in Polis for Luna's sake.

"Pretty good, actually," Lexa replied, kicking up her feet onto the coffee table in the living room of her and Clarke's apartment. The coffee table was the only thing that had been added after their initial move in, because Raven had insisted that every living room with a couch needed a coffee table. Clarke had argued that she didn't even want the couch in the first place, since their TV was going to go into the bedroom where it belonged once Raven moved out, but the coffee table had been implemented anyway.

The TV had indeed been moved into the bedroom since then, but the couch and coffee table still made up the lame living room. "Learn lots of cool psych shit?"

Lexa laughed, shaking her head. "I guess so. I met some decent people. Most of my classes have at least a couple of people I could see myself getting along with well enough. Except the one class that I have twice a week... there's a girl in it named Ashley who won't stop hitting on me no matter how many times I bring up Clarke."

"Creepy. Murder her."

"Strangely enough, that was Clarke's suggestion as well."

"Great minds think alike." Lexa laughed incredulously, and Luna chuckled. "What's Clarke up to? It's Friday night – shouldn't you two be cuddling and being all cute?"

"She's in her art room – got hit with a wave of art inspiration while she was at work today," Lexa explained. "I was going to go steal her from it and make her shower with me, but I figured it would be more productive to call you and let her paint a little more."

"Wow, I took priority over shower sex? I'm so honored."

"Speaking of shower sex," Lexa diverted, "how are things with you and Anya?"

"We actually don't have shower sex, so..."

"Luna..."

"What? Things are okay. I mean, she did forgo the possible plan of us moving in together. She's in a single dorm this year – did she tell you that? I got an apartment, though, since my dad is moving. I tried to make it pretty clear that she would be welcome to move in, but she's just been very formal about staying over some nights and going back to her dorm other nights," Luna admitted. "Ugh. I think she's stressing out because a couple of weeks ago, she and I went to her parents' place for a dinner."

"What? Is that the first time you met her parents?"

"Second time technically, but the first time was something a couple of years ago and I barely remember them. They didn't seem to remember me either, but I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I guess Anya's mentioned me to them a few times, so they kind of knew what to expect. Honestly, I think they hated me, and I think that it's caused Anya to freak out a little."

"Why haven't I heard anything about this?" Lexa asked, frowning deeply.

"Well, I thought Anya would've told you, but honestly who knows when Anya will mention anything anymore? At this point, I should just expect that she doesn't want to talk about any of this with you. Frankly, it's getting really hard to keep up with her. But at the same time, I get where she's coming from, and I love her so... what the fuck am I supposed to do? At this point. I'm just living at my place, letting her come over whenever, and hoping that at some point she'll realize that I'm worth whatever shit she thinks is going to happen with her parents if they find out. I mean... if she thinks that I'm worth that."

Lexa sighed sadly. This was what she'd been worried about through all of this – Anya leading Luna on and causing more drama than what either of them were worth. "Look, Lu... I know that you love Anya, but you know that if things start to get really shitty, you have to take care of yourself." The laugh that Luna released at that was sad and knowing.

"Yeah, well. Shouldn't you be all about protecting Anya at all costs? She's your best friend, after all."

"Come on, Luna. You and I are just as good of friends as me and Anya. Sure, Anya and I have known each other longer, but you guys are honestly so different. And I'd tell this same sort of shit to Anya if she would fucking talk to me about it, but she won't. And I get it, but she won't talk to me, and she won't talk to you, so she's definitely not talking to anyone about it," Lexa grumbled. "I'm just... I feel like she's not getting any better about this whole situation, and she's stringing you along which isn't fair, and the last thing I want is to watch both of my best friends falling into downward spirals because of this."

Luna let out a long sigh. "I've thought about... you know, talking to her and telling her that I can't keep this up for long. Because it's hard... being with her but not being with her. She doesn't talk to me about how she feels, so it's hard for me to talk to her about how I feel, and I think that makes her feel better about not talking... which just gets us stuck into this awful cycle. I've just... I've loved her for so long, but I don't think that I can do this. You know?"

"I know."

"Ugh. I have to go, there's a bonfire tonight that Tristan is dragging me and An out to," Luna muttered in disappointment. "I'll talk to you later. Don't forget to murder the bitch."

"Right. Bye, Lu."

"See ya." Lexa hung up the call and sighed. She didn't particularly like to get mixed up in her friends' relationship, but at the same time, she didn't want to see them both get hurt. It was a hard situation to deal with.

Dropping her phone on the couch with no intention of using it until the following morning, Lexa stood and headed for Clarke's art room. She pushed the door open slowly, the sound of the music playing from the blonde's laptop filling her ears. Clarke's hair was up in a loose, messy bun, and her paintbrush was in hand as she worked tirelessly at creating the artwork that was displayed beautifully on her canvas.

Lexa glanced around the room. It was so Clarke, the space. It was almost like a more condensed version of the studio she'd had in Polis in the warehouse she'd shared with her friends. The paint stained table was nestled in one corner, the unused chairs sitting just around it. The Ikea shelves were put up on the far side of the room, reaching the corner so as to leave room for the window on the other end of the wall. There was one easel, the one that Clarke was using, facing that window and away from the door, on the side of the room with the bathroom door. The other two easels were at slightly different angles, next to the wall that was the other side of their bedroom. There was a rug across the floor, which was surprisingly not paint covered, and against the wall to the left, the old sliding door from the warehouse, splattered in paint, was up against the wall as decoration. Aside from that, the rest of the walls were covered in Clarke's actual paintings.

"Hey," Lexa called out softly, once she saw Clarke's paintbrush no longer touching the canvas. Clarke glanced over her shoulder, meeting Lexa's gaze and smiling.

"Hey, babe. I didn't know you were home," Clarke admitted with a sudden frown. "What's the time?"

"Seven," Lexa replied. "I got home about half an hour ago, but I called Luna. Have you eaten?"

"What do you think?"

"Do we have any food?"

"We have soda. And beer. Um... maybe some mac and cheese?"

Lexa chuckled. Yeah, she and Clarke were much better at just ordering takeout. "Okay, let's try to make mac and cheese then. Can't go too wrong with that, right?"

"Worst case scenario, we confirm that the smoke detectors in this place work correctly."

"Ha."

Lexa managed to successfully make them each a serving of mac and cheese – which turned out to be easier than she thought, because the box had nice, step by step instructions on how to do it. They topped it off with some beer, and Clarke told Lexa about the commission she was currently painting. Then Lexa caught Clarke up on the Luna/Anya drama, and by the time they were finished eating, it was nearly eight.

Probably the time that Lexa felt oldest was when it was eight at night and all she wanted to do was curl up and sleep. Granted, she was always busy from morning until night, so sleep always sounded nice. Also, sleeping meant that she could cuddle with Clarke, which was never opposed to. However, it always made her feel old.

She felt justified tonight, however, since the following night she would probably be out until the wee hours of the morning.

After eating their mac and cheese, they both stripped off their clothes and took a hot shower together – where yes, they did a little more than just clean off – and then dried off before falling naked into their soft blankets in bed. They cuddled up close, fell asleep easily, and there was nothing ever better than that.

Saturday was usually the most relaxing day that either Clarke or Lexa had throughout the week, but with Lexa starting a new semester, it was now one of the best days for homework. That's why the brunette ended up spread out over the bed on her laptop while Clarke slipped into her art room to finish some painting. At least they could both be productive fairly easily.

Still, Lexa was bummed that school had to partially come in between her and her girlfriend, but this is how it had been before the summer as well. Homework was a necessity for school, and Lexa didn't want to slack off just to spend a little bit more time with Clarke, even if the idea was sometimes tempting.

This particular Saturday wasn't too awful, because they both knew that they would be going out with all of their friends that night. They'd already agreed to just get a taxi to the club and back, because it was too complicated having to think about who was going to be their sober driver. Clubbing meant drinking, after all, and both of them were excited for that, because drinking meant a horny Lexa and a lovey Clarke.

Though, neither of them would be getting too drunk, of course.

Lexa finally finished her homework when Clarke came back into the bedroom wearing one of her paint shirts, which she quickly stripped off. "Hello to you, too," Lexa said, eyes widening slightly when she realized that Clarke wasn't wearing a bra.

The blonde smirked at her. "Try not to get too turned on," she said teasingly, "O just texted and said we're meeting in half an hour, so we don't have time to fool around at all."

Lexa sighed. "How unfortunate. What are you wearing?" Clarke was at the closet now, looking through her half of the hanging clothes and dresses.

"I thought about a dress maybe – that blue one. But it's been like a year and a half since the last time I wore it, and I have a sneaking feeling that I've gained weight since then," Clarke admitted. "I should exercise. We should go to the gym sometime."

"Oh yes, with all that free time we have."

Clarke chuckled. "I actually do have free time, so maybe I should just go alone. Actually, I could go on Wednesdays at least. If you wake me up when you get up for your early class, I could make it to the gym for an hour before work."

"Sure," Lexa agreed as she closed her laptop and crawled out of bed. "I don't think you've gained that much weight, though. You should try the dress. You look hot in it."

"You gonna wear a dress?"

"Mm. I don't know. I thought I could just go for black on black and look like a total badass."

Clarke smirked as she grabbed for her blue dress and a thin, white bra. "You're not a badass, babe. Sorry, but it's true."

"I said look like a total badass, not be one. We've established that you're the intimidating one anyway."

"I like being the intimidating one."

"I know you do." Lexa bit back a grin and grabbed some black skinny jeans, and a loose, white top. She decided against grabbing a jacket, because it was still fairly hot in the city, and she knew that she would not be needing a coat of any sorts in the club. As she stripped off her pajamas and began to pull on her selected outfit, Clarke dropped her pants and began to tug on her dress. Lexa grinned when Clarke had really no issue with the dress. "Told you so."

"Wow. I guess my metabolism hasn't drastically failed me yet. With the amount of fast food we eat, I'm honestly surprised. I really should go to the gym, though, because I'm going to be old before you and that means that my metabolism is going to slow the fuck down soon," Clarke muttered, frowning.

"Aw, but you'll look beautiful no matter one," Lexa insisted, not even caring that she was super sappy.

Clarke smiled at her, a slight redness appearing on her cheeks. "Well, thank you, but it's about being healthy more so than being a certain shape. You could probably use to exercise some, too. You and I would both die if we had to climb those three flights of stairs every day."

"You're not wrong. Damn. Except I'm able to walk from school to work on Mondays and Wednesdays, which is going to help, so. Maybe you should walk to work."

Clarke laughed incredulously. "Yes, let me just walk clean across the city."

"You could take the subway."

"But I hate the subway."

"Alright, you do you, babe," Lexa said with a chuckle, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Clarke's waist. The blonde didn't even hesitate before closing the distance between them with a sweet kiss. It only lasted for a second, though, because Clarke was tugging away all too quickly, insisting that they had to leave soon if they were going to get a taxi and get to the club on time.

They actually ended up getting to the club at the perfect time, just as Octavia and Lincoln were also walking up to it. "Hey!" Octavia exclaimed. "We haven't seen you guys in over a week. How was starting school again, Lex?"

Octavia grabbed them both in a hug at the same time, and Clarke laughed as she squeezed them tightly. Lexa grinned at their friend when she finally stepped away. "It's pretty good. I'm excited for this semester. How are you guys?"

Lincoln smirked. "Octavia is great. She finally got that job she's been after all summer. She didn't want to admit it, but the reason we're all partying tonight is really to celebrate that."

"Not true," Octavia denied, crossing her arms. "It's because we all haven't seen each other recently, which is disappointing."

"Hey guys!" Raven called suddenly, and the group turned to see her and the rest of the boys approaching.

"Hey losers," Clarke replied teasingly.

Jasper laughed. "It doesn't have the same bite it used to. I swear you get softer every day, Clarke."

"We can thank Lexa for that," Bellamy said with a chuckle. "Do any of you guys need a sober driver?"

"We took a taxi."

"Same."

"Cool, because I wasn't planning on being anyone's sober driver."

Octavia grinned. "Wow, is my older brother finally going to actually enjoy the life of drinking again?"

"Let's just go into the club you weirdo."

They all filed into the club easily, flashing their Ids to the bouncer. Lexa's fake ID worked as always, though she was always nervous in the seconds before she got the nod of approval to go in. The group dragged them all over to the bar, where they each did a shot to start the night off.

Octavia made them all catch up to start with – announcing her new job to the rest of the group before allowing the rest of them to share something they hadn't yet. Lexa and Clarke, as it seemed, had kept all their friends pretty caught up. It wasn't like much had changed for them other than Lexa started her third year of school.

Clarke suggested to Lexa at some point that they dance, and the brunette agreed but said that she had to go to the bathroom first. She dragged Raven to go with her, because none of them ever used bathrooms alone at bars or clubs, and Clarke was left waiting at the bar. Octavia nudged her playfully, and Clarke realized that Lincoln had disappeared as well.

"Did you hear about that bet that Rae and Bell made about us?"

Clarke flushed. "Oh. Yeah, I did."

"It's kinda funny. I'm not gonna lie, I totally thought that Bellamy would be in a serious relationship by now. When we were kids I always told him that he had to get married first so that I wouldn't feel old when I did. But lo and behold, here I am in a committed relationship of two and a half years, and he's been single for longer than that," Octavia said funnily, smirking.

"And no one thought that I'd ever be in a committed relationship, let alone a legally committed relationship."

Octavia gave her a confused look. "You sound put off. Are you okay?"

"That stupid bet sent me into a stress spiral earlier this week, so I asked Raven to shut it down."

"What? Why were you stressing about it?"

Clarke bit down on her lower lip, looking at her friend and trying to decide whether to explain herself. She eventually just sighed and rolled her shoulders back. "Do you really think that you're ready to be married?"

"Sure," Octavia said, shrugging. "I mean, maybe not right this second. But I love Lincoln, and I could marry him. And, as my parents have taken the liberty to remind me countless times, people don't necessarily become boring when they get married like a lot of people think. When we found out about that bet, we were talking about marriage kind of jokingly, and I made Lincoln promise that when we do get married one day, we are not allowed to use it as an excuse to have less sex."

Clarke's face twisted in disgust at the image of her friends having sex, but then she just sighed. "I guess that makes sense."

"You don't think you're ready to be married?"

"I don't fucking know," Clarke muttered. "I mean, I know that I'm halfway through my twenties now, almost anyway, but Lexa's not even twenty-one yet. She's probably not ready for something like that, whether or not I am."

"That's a cop out, C. But honestly, you and Lexa should talk about it. Decide whether that's something either of you would want, and when you might want it. If it turns out that she really wants to be married, but you don't, that's something you're going to have to deal with," Octavia insisted.

Clarke frowned. "I don't know what I want, though. I'm not... I have no fucking clue. I love Lexa... but that's fucking scary." She saw Lexa approaching suddenly, and stood up a bit straighter. "I'll talk to you later, O." Octavia nodded, glancing between Lexa and Clarke quickly, before the blonde reached for Lexa's hand. "Dance with me now?"

They stumbled out to the dance floor and began to move along to the beat of the music, but Lexa knew as well as Clarke did that the blonde was not completely into it. At first, Lexa didn't say anything about it, but then she finally grabbed Clarke's hand and pulled the blonde flush with her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"Clarke."

"Lexa."

"Something's bothering you."

Clarke let out a breath, lowering her gaze. "It's... not a big deal. I don't wanna talk about it right now. Can't we talk about it later?"

"Of course, Clarke, but whatever it is, it's clearly bothering you right now, not later."

Suddenly, Jasper had appeared next to them. "Guys, we're gonna do another round of shots! You in?" Lexa glanced at the blonde, who was avoiding eye contact now.

"Yep!"


	5. Chapter 5

Clarke's hands splayed across Lexa's midsection as she straddled the brunette, her tongue delving deep into her mouth. Lexa moaned quietly. They were both still buzzed from the club, but it was around two in the morning now, and they just gotten home. They'd made it to the bed with intentions of sleeping, but once their skins was against each other's, they were unable to resist.

That was, until Lexa remembered earlier in the night – the conversation that Clarke didn't want to have. Suddenly, she didn't really feel like sex, at least not until they talked about whatever was bothering the blonde. She gently pushed Clarke off of her, and blue eyes looked down at her in confusion. "We have to talk, Clarke."

"I don't want to," Clarke whined, trying to lean back down and kiss Lexa, but the brunette began to sit up. Clarke rolled off of her in a huff, laying flat on the other side of the bed and staring at the ceiling.

"How about... if you can tell me that it's not about you and me at all, we can talk about it later. I just... I feel like whatever it is has to be about us, because you were in such an off mood earlier and I don't ever really see you like that," Lexa said quietly.

Clarke squeezed her eyes shut, taking in a long, deep breath, and then let all her words out in a single rush. "I've been stressing about that stupid bet that Bellamy and Raven made because it's making me think about getting married and I don't when and if I'll be ready for something like that and I'm scared to talk to you about it because I've done so so good about committing to you despite all the issues I've had in the past and I don't wanna mess it up."

Clarke kept her eyes closed so that she couldn't see Lexa's face react to all of the words that had just spilled out of her, but when she felt arms wrap around her waist and Lexa's naked body press against the side of hers, she relaxed slightly. "Open your eyes," Lexa whispered, and Clarke obeyed, adjusting her position slightly so that she could look at Lexa. Lexa wasn't really surprised by the vulnerability that she could see in Clarke's big, blue eyes, nor was she particularly surprised about the confession Clarke had just made to her. "Do you wanna know how I feel about marriage?"

Clarke nodded.

"I think it's pretty simple. People who are perfect for each other and get married are set, all good. People who aren't... well, it's just like any other relationship when it ends – except it requires a lot more effort. Frankly, I like to think that our relationship doesn't have a 'when it ends' scenario at all, which I think means that marriage is probably something that we could do," Lexa stated. Clarke bit down on her lower lip, clearly still concerned. Lexa wasn't finished, however. "That being said, I don't think that it matters when two people get married. I mean, I plan to love you now, tomorrow, months from now, years from now... Do I want to marry you some day? Sure, if you want to. I also don't care when, or how. So if you ever decide that you're ready, I'll be ready. I could marry you tomorrow, or next week, or next year, or six years from now. I don't fucking care. All I know is that I love you and I'm spending the rest of my life with you, no matter how our relationship is defined, and really whether you like it or not."

Clarke knew that she was grinning now, and that her face was bright red. "Well, I can't say that I would be at all opposed to that."

"Forget about that stupid bet, okay? We're allowed to go at whatever pace we want, and the last thing I want is for you to be stressed out about something that doesn't have to happen until you're ready for it to happen," Lexa murmured, holding Clarke tighter and pressing a soft kiss to the corner of her lips.

Sighing contently, the blonde buried her face into Lexa's neck. "I love you."

"I know," Lexa stated, giggling a little.

Clarke gently bit the skin on Lexa's neck. "This is not the time for Star Wars shit."

"I love you too, Clarke."

"I really can't imagine being with anyone other than you,"Clarke whispered. "Plus, no one else would've put so much effort into being with me."

"Well you're worth it all."

They were quiet for a moment, and then Clarke sighed. "I guess the moment for sex has passed."

"Mm, you sure about that? You're naked, I'm naked. You're horny, I'm horny. We've just declared our undying love for one another. It's the perfect time for sex."

Clarke suddenly pushed out of Lexa's hold and straddled her again, taking the brunette's breath away and rendering her powerless. "You make a valid point. Do we have anywhere to be tomorrow?"

"Nope."

"Great. I hope you didn't plan on walking very much through the apartment then."

"I'm content to lay in bed all day."

Clarke grinned widely. "Good to know."

* * *

Lexa stirred slightly, aware that her thighs and center were both slightly sore, and groaned. Some atrocious noise was piercing the would be quiet Sunday morning that was supposed to be peaceful. "What the fuck is that?"

"I dunno," Clarke grumbled, pulling the blankets up and around her, leaving Lexa only half covered. Sighing, she forced her eyes opened and gave them a moment to focus. The noise stopped, and then started again, and she realized that her phone was ringing. Who was calling her on a Sunday morning?

She reached for her phone and saw the name Anthony Hanson across the screen, and she furrowed her eyebrows. Why would he be calling her so many times? She immediately thought that there must be some sort of emergency, and she sat up in bed to answer the call. "Hello?"

"Is this Lexa?" a fierce, angry woman's voice demanded.

"Yes? Who is this?"

"Macie, Anthony's wife, and Aden's mother," the woman growled.

Lexa's eyes widened. "And why are you calling me exactly?"

"You know why, and I do not appreciate that you have been speaking to my son without the permission of either me or his father," Macie expressed angrily.

"Aden has been talking to me because he feels connected to me – because newsflash, we're half siblings. Not to mention that he hardly feels like you or Anthony care about him," Lexa snapped, surprising herself. Clarke was sitting up now, tugging Lexa's hand and drawing her gaze over to the blonde's concerned one.

"Look, kid," Macie snapped, "you have no right to insult me. I know what's best for Aden – I'm his mother. You are barely related to him – and you are in no way a part of our family, do you hear me? Your father wants nothing to do with you."

"Oh really? Is that why he gave me money to help with college, and tried to get to know me when he was in Polis?"

"You bitch! You stole from him! He would never give you and your slut mother any money!"

"Excuse me? You have no right to talk to me like that. You should be more concerned about your son than you are about me. If he's felt like the only one who understands him is his half sister who he's only known for half a year, then clearly you're doing something wrong," Lexa growled.

"Look, I don't know what Aden's told you, but what I do know is that neither my husband or I have told him about you being related to him, and you had no right to do that."

Lexa's eyes widened. "I did not tell him that he's my half brother. He already knew – because as it seems, you and Anthony had plenty of loud conversations on the phone about Anthony's bastard daughter. How about you call me back to discuss the implications of me talking to Aden once you've sorted out your own shit? Thanks." Lexa hit the end call button furiously, and then looked back to Clarke.

"Who was that? Anthony's wife?"

"Macie, yeah," Lexa replied, exhaling deeply and shaking her head. "She called me a bitch and my mom a slut."

Clarke's jaw dropped. "She better never show her face, or I will fucking cut her."

"You sure are very defensive of me lately."

"You're probably the only person I'd ever consider murdering someone for," Clarke admitted lightly, successfully drawing a quiet laugh out of the brunette.

"Thanks, I think?"

Suddenly, the phone rang again with another call from Anthony. Clarke frowned. "Do you think it's her again?"

"I should answer it in case it isn't," Lexa thought aloud, and when Clarke didn't object, she answered the call and brought it tentatively to her ear.

"Lexa?" It was her father's voice this time.

"Yep."

"I'm so sorry. I heard the end of your conversation with Macie. I didn't realize she had my phone. She and I saw early this morning on Aden's phone that he had your number... He was grounded yesterday for breaking his curfew on Friday, so we took his phone. I told Macie that I would talk to you... but I guess she beat me to it."

"Yeah, we had quite a nice conversation that included her accusing me of telling Aden that we're half siblings – which I never did – and also some very nice things she had to say about both me and my mother," Lexa growled, hearing Anthony sigh in defeat.

"She's very averse to the idea that..."

"I exist? That you had sex with another woman before? I'm sorry, but you're married to a bitch."

Anthony was quiet for a moment. "She has a nicer side, Lexa. I promise she isn't always this way, especially not to Aden. She just wants what is best for him. And so do I."

"Which is what? Him never getting to bond with his half sister who he clearly wants to have a relationship with and never getting the explanation as to why she was kept secret from him for twelve years? Or him having to deal with knowing that his parents are fighting, because his dad is hardly ever home and his mom and pulling more and more away? Yeah, sounds like the best Anthony."

"Lexa... you don't understand. You're not a parent."

"You're right, I'm not. But if I was, I already know that I'd make a hell of a lot better of one than you," she growled with finality, before hanging up the phone and barely resisting the urge to hurl it across the room and into the wall.

Lexa slumped against her girlfriend, who wrapped her arms around her tightly. "You know, it's a wonder how such amazing people can be made by such assholes."

"You're not wrong," Lexa murmured. "You have the worst mom, I have an awful dad... we're pretty great."

"You're great."

"You are, too."

"Whatever you say."

Lexa smirked. "That is what I say."

A soft smile appeared on the blonde's face. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I will. I've been through enough shit at this point. I mean, I'm more concerned about Aden than anything," Lexa replied quietly. "I don't know that there's much I can do, though. I'd call him, but they have his phone right now."

Clarke nodded. "You wanna sleep a little longer then? Or go out?"

"I definitely don't wanna move," Lexa murmured, lying down again and tugging Clarke down as well. "I mean, I'm a little sore."

"Oh right, I'm sorry."

"Don't be, just cuddle with me."

* * *

"You seem to be in a better mood," Raven commented. She and Clarke were seated cross legged on either end of Raven's dorm bed, eating burritos. It was Monday, and Lexa was going to be at work for another hour and a half or so. "Did you and Lexa have a long, deep talk, or what?"

"Something like that."

"Did you propose to her?"

Clarke's jaw dropped. "No, Raven. But we did talk on Saturday night, and yes, I'm in a better mood. I mean, Lexa's dad decided to pull an ex machina again, along with his crazy wife, yesterday... but parents are one thing that we have gotten used to handling."

"Meanwhile, I just call up my parents a couple of times a year so that they know I'm alive and... yeah, not dead. We talk for about fifteen minutes, then things get awkward and we decide that it's enough interaction for the year," Raven said, smirking. "I'm glad that you two talked about the marriage stuff, though. I really didn't want you to stress out about it. It was a silly bet, and I called it off with Bell yesterday."

"Thanks," Clarke said, smiling softly. "Yeah, things are all good. I'm back to normal, not terrified of commitment Clarke."

Raven grinned. "Great. So. Could I talk to you about something?"

"Of course, what's up?"

"So... last weekend after moving in to the dorm building, I met this girl... and she and I hooked up," Raven stated, biting the inside of her lip. "It was supposed to just kind of end there, but then she asked me out in the middle of last week and we went out on Friday."

Clarke's jaw dropped. "You went out on Friday and somehow managed to not mention it all weekend?"

"I don't know, I thought it might end up being just a one time date and then she texted me yesterday and we started talking like really consistently and I actually really like talking to her and it's so weird because I haven't been in a relationship with anyone in years," Raven blurted, before sealing her lips in a frown. "I've gotten so used to being single, but this girl is smart and hot and fuck she's good in bed."

"What's her name?"

"Niylah."

"Well... you like her... so are you going to go out with her again?"

Raven nodded. "We're going out again on Friday. She's twenty-two, in Pre-Med... fuck, she's honestly great. I don't know what my emotions are doing. I'm not used to this."

"Aw, looks like you're next up to become a sap, Rae."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Oh come on, Raven. We're all secret saps, that's why we're able to be so close of friends," Clarke reasoned. "We just all have to find the one person who brings it out in us."

"Yeah well, that might be true for you and Octavia, but I'm not a sap. If I like fucking a girl or a guy, and also she's nice and not half bad to talk to, that doesn't make me a sap," Raven insisted indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Clarke smirked. "Whatever you say. That all you wanted to talk about, or was there a question in there somewhere?"

"Well... I thought that maybe... we could all hang out again sometime soon, and I could invite her. If she doesn't fall in with our group, I have to end it early. I can't date someone who won't fit in with all our friends. Can you imagine if Lexa wasn't friends with all of us? It would've been a disaster. And we're a very particular friend group."

"Sure, of course. I'll talk to O about planning something."

"Okay, but... don't mention Niylah to Octavia, okay?"

Clarke frowned. "Why? Don't you two tell each other everything."

"Yeah, well... I don't know, it's just... Octavia's the one I'm most worried about not liking Niylah. Not that I think that they won't like each other, but I'm scared that she'll make stuff up in her head about her, or get some preconceived idea about her... I want her to get a genuine first impression without assuming things," Raven admitted. "I'd just rather no one else know until the actual hangout time. I mean, you can tell Lexa of course. You two are gay and sappy enough to understand and keep from mentioning it, right?"

"I'm not gay, but of course," Clarke replied, rolling her eyes.

"Well whatever the fuck you are. Whatever the fuck I am. Honestly, what is sexuality anyway?"

Clarke grinned. "Different for everybody I guess."


	6. Chapter 6

Lexa silently opened the door to Clarke's art studio, peeking in to see Clarke with one hand propped on her waste and the other wielding a paintbrush. Her head was titled and her loose top bun was falling lightly to the side as she examined the painting in front of her. To Lexa, it seemed mostly finished, but she knew that an artist's eye probably saw multiple things that could use changes.

She leaned against the door frame as Clarke's concentration kept her gaze directly on the canvas. Lexa had heard her music stop about ten minutes ago, and thought that the blonde was done painting for the night. It was Friday, after all, and Lexa was waiting for their planned Netflix binge session. When Clarke hadn't reappeared from her art room, Lexa had known that the play list had probably just ended, and Clarke was too focused to notice.

When it became apparent that Clarke wasn't about to move anytime soon, Lexa silently padded across the soft rug until she was just behind the blonde. She gently touched her hands to Clarke's waist, causing her to jump in surprise. "Lexa!" she squeaked, dropping her paintbrush onto the laminate floor, barely missing the rug.

"Your music stopped playing," Lexa stated, "and you're too busy staring at a perfect painting to notice."

"It's not perfect," Clarke insisted, relaxing backwards into Lexa a little, "and I was trying to figure out what it's missing. The last thing I want is to realize after I've decided that it's done."

Lexa pressed a soft kiss to Clarke's shoulder. "I guess that make sense." Clarke chuckled, tugging away from Lexa in order to crouch down and grab her dropped paintbrush.

"Now I have to clean the floor," Clarke muttered dejectedly.

"Do it later. It's laminate, it'll come off." Lexa grabbed the paintbrush from Clarke's hands just as she stood up straight again, preventing her from continuing her painting.

"Lexa..."

"Clarke..."

Lexa smirked, extending her arm forward and bringing the paintbrush close to Clarke's face threateningly. Blue eyes glanced down at it without Clarke moving her head at all, and then her hand lashed out to her work station, grabbing another paint covered paintbrush. "I wouldn't come any closer if I were you."

"Is that a threat?"

"Uh, only one in response to you sticking a paintbrush in my face." They stared each other down for another few seconds, and then Lexa made her move, making a quick swiping motion with the brush and painting a dark blue streak across Clarke's cheek. "Lexa!" Clarke exclaimed in surprise.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Lexa taunted, unable to fight the grin that had worked its way onto her face even as she tried to look menacing. She backed up slightly, expecting immediate retaliation.

Clarke took a second however, dipping her paintbrush into more paint, but keeping her eyes on Lexa. Her gaze dropped down momentarily to analyze was Lexa was wearing. Dark leggings and a pajama shirt that was useless. Lexa knew by now what the blonde was thinking, but she didn't have time to jump out of the way when paint was being flung at her. "Clarke! It's gonna get in my hair!" she squeaked, looking down at her now paint splattered shirt.

"You should've thought about that ahead of time, babe," Clarke teased playfully, taking a challenging step forward with her brush in hand. Lexa held her ground, stabbing her hand forward and painting another mark of paint across Clarke's collarbone. Clarke responded immediately, jumping forward and painting across Lexa's chin. The brunette squealed, trying to dart out of the way before she could get painted anymore, but she found herself tripping slightly as Clarke grabbed onto her waist, and somehow they ended up on the floor. Clarke was straddling the brunette firmly, her hair having just fallen out of its bun and now settling loosely across her shoulders. She had paint on her face and collarbone, but she was just as beautiful as always nonetheless. "I win."

Lexa's breathing was uneven, partially because of the sudden battle and also tripping, but also because of the look that Clarke was giving her. She took a moment to find words, but managed to ask, "What do you think you're getting for winning?"

Clarke hummed thoughtfully, glancing away from Lexa's face and down at her midsection. Her free hand suddenly took the paintbrush out of Lexa's hand, and she batted her eyelashes at the brunette. "Take off your shirt."

Lexa obeyed, tugging the clothing up and off of her body and tossing it away.

Clarke looked down at her girlfriend with appreciation. "You should let me paint you sometime."

"You've done that before."

"Sorry, I meant paint on you," Clarke clarified, pressing one of the cold paintbrushes to Lexa's belly. She shivered slightly, but the sensation was strangely pleasant.

"I think there is special paint for that," Lexa commented, and Clarke nodded in agreement, still swirling around the brush. This continued on for a few moments, until the brunette groaned. "I shouldn't be so turned on by this."

Clarke giggled, but it wasn't an innocent sound at all. Her hips began to move back and forth, rubbing her covered center against Lexa's waist. Lexa groaned again, because this clearly only gave Clarke any pleasure, and only succeeded in making the brunette more needy. Clarke noticed this, smirking and tossing both of the paintbrushes away. She didn't seem to care where they landed, but Lexa knew that that was because they'd landed with a clink on the hard floor, rather than on the carpet. Clarke's hands pressed softly onto Lexa's midsection, getting messy with paint and dragging it further across her skin. "Maybe I really should paint on you more often then."

"I don't think that's the whole reason, but I have no opposition either way," Lexa breathed out, wanting Clarke's hands to move upwards. She hadn't been wearing a bra under her comfy clothes, and Clarke's hands touching under her breasts but not on them was entirely too frustrating.

Clarke continued rubbing her center against Lexa's waist, and she leaned down suddenly to press her lips against Lexa's chest. She purposefully avoided her nipples, dragging her tongue across the smooth skin around them instead. Lexa whimpered, hoping Clarke would give in and give her what she wanted, but to no avail.

Fueled by this, Lexa growled, pushing up suddenly and flipping them over. She pressed the blonde into the carpet, and Clarke released a moan as Lexa's lips found her neck immediately. She accidentally got a bit of paint in her mouth as her lips trailed downward, and she pulled away in disgust. "We should rethink this paint thing."

Clarke didn't say anything, and began just tugging on her own shirt. Lexa got the message, helping remove and discard it. Unlike her girlfriend, she didn't tease, instead going straight to giving Clarke's breasts ample attention. It helped that Clarke's boobs were incredibly touchable, squeezable, and kissable.

She was greatly enjoying how horny Clarke was now, how her hips were thrusting upwards as her breathing increased. It was true that Clarke topped Lexa more often than the other way around, and both of them were quite okay with that, but Lexa still loved this – reveled in it even. She liked the sound of Clarke panting, pleading.

"Lexa," Clarke whined, followed by a deep moan. Her paint covered hands buried into Lexa's hair, but neither of them thought about it as she pushed her head down toward her center.

Lexa stopped at Clarke's midsection, knowing that her girlfriend wanted her to go lower, and looked up. "Oh, did you want something? After you splattered my clothes with paint?"

"You started it!" Clarke exclaimed, furrowing her eyebrows. "Fuck, Lexa, take off my pants. You can't leave me hanging."

"Well... I could."

"Lexa," Clarke pleaded, "please?"

"Mm. Since you asked so nicely." Lexa grinned and made quick work of her girlfriend's pants, before fiercely pushing apart her thighs. She paused again. "Sorry, what exactly was it you wanted me to do?"

"Lexa," Clarke growled.

"Clarke?"

"Fuck me, Lexa, please," the blonde finally begged, and Lexa didn't hesitate. She worked efficiently with her tongue between Clarke's legs, enjoying the panting and moaning she heard coming from Clarke's mouth. Hands were still tangled in her hair, gripping tightly as she began to climb up and up to her climax. "Fuck, Lexa! Fuck, fuck, fucking – Lexa!"

Lexa felt Clarke tighten, and then relax slightly, and she began to be more gentle with Clarke's center. She pulled her face away a second later, and moved to straddle her girlfriend's waist. "Is that what you wanted for winning this paint war?"

"Mm," Clarke hummed, her eyes closed. They flickered open again a moment later, meeting Lexa's green ones. Her pupils were dilated, causing Lexa to bite her lower lip. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Clarke glanced down at Lexa's bare torso. "You're covered in paint."

"Oh. Yes."

"It's in your hair now, too. My bad." Lexa's hand went up to her hair, feeling some of it already drying in her locks. "Shit. We should go wash that out."

"We?"

"Of course," Clarke replied, batting her eyelashes. "It's my fault it's there anyway."

"Well alright, I'm not against that."

Clarke sighed happily. "You know, sometimes I don't think that you could possibly be real. I must've made you up in my head. You're too perfect."

"Me? Perfect? You've got the wrong girl."

"No, I've got the right one," Clarke insisted. "I used to think it was impossible to be in love with someone for so long without something going incredibly wrong."

"We've got a good streak going," Lexa teased with a grin.

Clarke rolled her eyes, propping herself up on her elbows. "Alright, cutie, get your ass up so we can go wash all this paint off of you."

* * *

"Hey, O," Clarke said into the phone, stretching out across the bed. It was noon on Saturday, but she hadn't gotten out of bed other than to pee and brush her teeth when she first woke up. She'd opted instead to enjoy the morning with her girlfriend by continuing the Netflix binge that they'd started the night before, since Lexa would be working on homework for pretty much the rest of the day. Now, though, Lexa had gone into the bathroom to shower – the shower the night before hadn't been entirely helpful considering what they'd done afterward. "How was your week?"

"Ugh, long," Octavia answered. "I had a couple of training days at my new job, though, which starts for real on Monday. I'm fucking hyped, Clarke. Seriously, this is literally what I came to New York for, and it's actually happening. You guys all better get ready to be reading columns written by the great Octavia Blake in magazines soon."

"The Great Octavia Blake... are you sure you're not becoming a magician?"

"Ha ha. What about you? How was your week?"

"It was pretty good," Clarke replied happily. "Some investors who came into the gallery a couple of weeks ago came back in on Wednesday. I gave them my card before, and one of them apparently actually looked me up, because he remembered me and told me that my art was great, and he was excited to see it on the walls of the gallery someday."

"Well that's fucking awesome," Octavia declared. "I agree with him. Can't wait to see all that shit covering your walls finally available for everyone to see."

Clarke smiled. "Thanks. Hey, I was thinking that we should try to plan another time for us all to go out. If we don't plan it sooner rather than later, we're going to end up not all hanging out together until like, October for Lexa's birthday."

"You' make a valid point. You know that you're allowed to plan stuff too, right? You don't have to call me."

"But you're better at making things happen."

Octavia hummed thoughtfully. "I guess you're right. Sure, how about next Saturday? Maybe we can start an every other weekend thing. Not always going out, of course, but we could all get together at least."

"I'd like that. It sucks not seeing you guys very often."

"Agreed. I tried to get Rae to hang out with me yesterday, but she claimed that she was busy. And I called you, but it went straight to voice mail," Octavia stated accusingly. "Lincoln had to be out late for work, so."

"Oh, sorry. Lexa and I had a night in last night."

"Do you guys ever have nights out anymore?"

"Sure we do. It's just that with work, and her in classes again, it's always just nice to relax at home at the end of the day. You know?"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Well. Last night I ended up just going over to the guys' place. Jasper and Monty were playing one of Bell's old video games, and I creamed them at it. Perks of having a close in age older brother who always made me play with him so that he could beat someone. Took me a few rounds of any game to get just as good as him, and then he stopped playing with me because he didn't want me to crush him," Octavia claimed proudly.

Clarke smirked. "Sounds fun. See, you don't need me or Raven to have a good time."

"I just kinda miss when we were all in the same place all the time, you know?"

"I do."

"You doing anything tonight?"

"I don't know. Lexa's gonna be doing homework all day, why?"

"It's coming up on mine and Lincoln's three year anniversary of sorts – though I feel weird saying that since it's three years of dating and not like, marriage... Anyway, yeah. I was hoping that someone could help me try to figure out what to get him. What are you getting Lexa for yours?"

Clarke frowned. "We don't usually... do that. I mean, we always have a date together on ours, but we don't do big gifts or anything. I don't know if I could go out tonight to help you find stuff, but I'm sure I could soon. You've got like two or three months anyway."

"Yeah, well. I want to be prepared."

There was suddenly a buzz from the door, and Clarke frowned. They weren't expecting anyone. "Hey, one sec, someone just buzzed our door. Do I put on clothes now or do I wait until I find out if someone actually needs to come up?"

"Ew, you've been naked this whole time?"

"Yes?"

"Put on clothes after. They probably just hit the wrong buzzer," Octavia said, and Clarke agreed, getting off the bed and quickly getting to the door. She hit the talk button.

"Hello?"

"Hello," a man's voice replied, "Clarke?"

"That's me."

"It's Anthony. Could I come up?"

Clarke opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She heard Lexa's shower still running, and swallowed thickly. She hit the talk button again. "Um. Lexa's in the shower right now."

"I can wait down here until she's done."

Clarke bit down on her lower lip. She didn't want to let Anthony up unless Lexa was okay with it, but she also felt like she should let him up. He was probably here to talk about the incident on the phone last weekend, and he was clearly here in peace. Clarke was honestly just grateful that it wasn't one of her parents – or Anthony's wife. Actually, if it was his wife, Clarke would gladly buzz her in and then slap the shit out of her when she reached the apartment.

Just then, the shower stopped running, and Clarke sighed, hitting the talk button again. "Wait a second." She then stepped away from the door and spoke into the phone. "Hey, O, I'm gonna have to call you back."

"Of course, no problem. See ya, C." The line ended and Clarke walked into the bedroom. She tossed her phone down and quickly dressed, and Lexa was padding out of the bathroom by the time she was done.

"Why are you wearing clothes?" Lexa asked with a pout.

Clarke pursed her lips. "Um. Your dad is here. He wants to come up. I didn't wanna let him up until I got the okay from you."

Lexa blinked. "What? Why is he here?"

"Beat's me, babe. He's still by the buzzer."

Lexa sighed, quickly pulling on some clothes. She then moved over to the door, looking curiously at the panel for a moment. She seemed to make a decision all of the sudden, and hit the buzz in button without even speaking to her father first. "He better not be here to start shit."


	7. Chapter 7

There was a light knock on the door, and Lexa took in a breath before opening it. "Hi," she said first, hoping that speaking first might somehow give her the power in the conversation.

"Lexa," Anthony said quietly, scratching the back of his head. Lexa looked him over, and noticed that he seemed to look quite a bit older than he had at the beginning of the year. That, or just far more tired. Despite his light hair, whitening strands were quite visible, and his green eyes seemed dulled somehow. "May I come in?"

"Yes," Lexa agreed, sure that whatever this was would become far too uncomfortable if they were standing half in and half out of the apartment the whole way through.

"Where's Clarke?"

"She's in her art room," Lexa answered. Her girlfriend had asked if Lexa wanted her to be a part of the conversation, but the brunette had kindly refused. It wasn't that this situation felt too private or anything, because Lexa didn't really keep anything from Clarke, but she wanted to hear whatever her father had to say in full. She thought that if Clarke were there, Anthony might withhold some comment or another. "You can sit down. Was there something that you needed?" They both took a seat at the small table.

"Firstly, I really want to apologize for last weekend," Anthony began. He exhaled deeply, as though he'd just dropped a heavy weight. "My wife... Macie, she's... you're right, she clearly has an issue with you and your mother that is not at all fair to either of you. She's known about you ever since we got pregnant with Aden, and I saw it fit to tell her. Of course, at the time, I didn't know anything about you, so she didn't either. We kind of pushed the topic away after that, because it seemed like old news, something we wouldn't have to address again. However, at the end of last year, we started having a lot of... issues. I told her that I was going to just get away for a couple of weeks, give us both some space. She wasn't thrilled about me coming back to Polis, but that's where I grew up. When she found out that I'd spoken to Alexandria, and met you, she got very angry. From what I understand after talking to her about her conversation with you and also speaking with Aden... that's how Aden found out about you."

Lexa nodded slowly. "That's what he told me."

"When?"

"When Clarke and I watched him while you went out with some friends. I thought that would be the only time I really ever saw him, but sometime a few weeks later he said that he stole my phone number from your phone. He wanted to keep in touch with me, because he said that you and Macie were fighting, and he didn't think it was fair for him to find out that he has a sister, and not be able to connect with her," Lexa explained. "I couldn't just say no to him and block his number. He's a good kid. And I'll admit, when I found out about him, my first instinct was to not like him, but then I met him, and I realized that my initial thought process was bullshit."

"Wait, what? Why was that your first instinct?"

Lexa fought the urge to roll her eyes. So her father really had been clueless back when he'd brought Aden to Polis. "Well. After I found out that you're married, I was somewhat surprised. But I realized that that was totally expected – I mean, it'd been twenty years. However, I guess I was a lot more surprised that you had another kid, because it seems like having a kid and connecting with him might've made you curious about your other kid – eight years old at the time. It's just, you came back to Polis like you wanted to try to be in my life, and then I find out that not only was your attempt kind of half-assed, but was also pretty bullshit considering that you apparently have the full capability to raise a child."

Anthony sighed, his eyelids falling tiredly as his hand rubbed over his face. "Okay, I understand. You're right. I haven't been nearly fair to you. But no matter how much I feel like I owe you, Lexa, I can't give you what I gave Aden. It's too late for that."

"I know that," Lexa breathed out, shaking her head. "I don't want that from you. I don't want anything from you. Well... except, I'd like to be able to connect with Aden. For his sake, but also because I've gotten quite attached to him. He's a great kid, and I've always kind of wanted a sibling. My best friend Anya has an older brother who lives in New York now, and he was always kind of brotherly to me when we were younger. It was nice to have an older, but not old, perspective on things."

Anthony nodded slowly. "I think we can work something out, Lexa. That's actually the second reason that I came here to talk to you. When I talked to Aden, he was reluctant to say much about his talking with you. Well, turns out that my wife had gotten a hold of his tablet during my conversation with him, and we saw that he'd been basically stalking the internet to find out where you and Clarke had moved to. He finally told me that he'd been planning to run away. Did he tell you about that?"

"No. I mean, he told me he wanted to, and I told him that he shouldn't, and that it wouldn't fix anything. That was a few weeks ago. I didn't think he was actually going to," Lexa promised. The last thing she wanted was for her father and his crazy wife to think that she'd tried to convince Aden to run away.

"I believe you," Anthony assured her. "I think he's been going through a lot of struggling, because of me and his mom being in a rocky place, and since he hasn't been able to see you. I had a long talk with Macie, and we both decided that we just want him to be happy. It's our ultimate goal, you know, as parents. But we've gone and fucked up quite a bit. We decided a couple of weeks ago that we're going to get a divorce, and well... Aden doesn't know."

Lexa released a sigh. She's seen this coming. "Oh."

"Yeah. He's... well, he's not going to take it well. We're signing the official papers in a couple of weeks. We're going to sit down with him before then, and work out the final custody situation. We don't want it to be a fight, so we're going to try to work with what Aden wants. Of course, his mother wants full custody, which I understand... but anyway. Macie and I are going to have to go down to a courthouse to get the whole thing done, and I'm going to be moving out. We're hoping to make it just a weekend ordeal, so we thought that maybe... the weekend after next... Aden could come up here and stay with you and Clarke while we deal with everything."

Lexa's jaw dropped. She had not been expecting that at all. "Um... I think that would be fine. Let me just... I'll ask Clarke." She hopped up, going over to the art room door and opening it slowly. Her girlfriend turned immediately, clearly not in her typical trance of concentration considering who was in their apartment. "Hey, could you come out here for a sec?"

"Of course," Clarke agreed, setting down her paintbrush quickly and shuffling out of the room. She immediately looked to Lexa's father warily. "Anthony."

"Pleasure to see you again, Clarke," Anthony said politely, standing up. "I was just talking to Lexa about mine and my wife's plans to get divorced. We want Aden to be happy, and even though we don't think that the divorce is the best thing for him, we think it would be worse for him to have us not around a lot because of how unhappy we are. I just asked Lexa if..."

Lexa looked to her girlfriend. "He was wondering if Aden could come up and stay with us for a weekend, the weekend after next. While they're finalizing the divorce."

Clarke blinked, surprised. "Oh, I mean, yeah."

"You guys don't have to decide now," Anthony told them quickly. "I just think that it would help Aden get through this, because me and his mother are already not his most favorite people right now... If you guys have other plans, or just can't, I completely understand, and he can just stay with one of his friends that weekend."

"No, I think that would be fine," Clarke said, and Lexa was nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, we can definitely do that."

Anthony smiled for the first time since coming into the apartment. "Great. I'm so glad to hear that. He'll be so happy when he finds out. I know that I've not been the best father to him, and definitely not to you, Lexa... but I'm trying to do what's best for him now, and you. If you need anything... just let me know, okay?"

Lexa nodded silently.

"I'll call you about the details for that weekend sometime soon. I'm really sorry for interrupting your day, but I was in the city last night for a business meeting, and I'm about to head back down home, so I thought I would just stop by," Anthony explained. He walked himself to the door, Lexa and Clarke following swiftly. "Have a good day."

"You too," Lexa replied, and Clarke gave the man a small smile, and then he let himself out and disappeared.

Clarke looked to Lexa with raised eyebrows. "It's... kind of weird to think of a divorce as a better option for a kid than two parents staying together."

"I guess it really just depends on the situation," Lexa supposed. "What do you think would've happened if your parents stayed together?"

"Honestly? Probably the same thing, just more complicated," Clarke admitted. "But I can see where Anthony's coming from. If he and his wife having issues has been limiting their time with their son, and they could change that by divorcing, I guess it makes sense. The kid already knows that his parents have issues anyway."

Lexa hummed in agreement. "Ugh. It's like the middle of the day and I want alcohol."

"Don't you have homework?"

"I don't wanna do it right now," Lexa whined as Clarke wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

"How about... you do your homework, and we go out to dinner tonight? Just us, and fancy food. Well... somewhat fancy food, because my wallet is unfortunately not at thick as it was when we were in Polis."

Lexa smiled widely. "Sounds good to me."

"Great. So I'll go back to painting, you knock out that homework, and we'll reconvene in a few hours."

"It's a date."

* * *

Lexa tapped her pencil against her desk in annoyance, wishing that the class could just be over. It wasn't that she disliked the class, but she was sure that the topic that was being covered at this moment had already been explained to her at her internship countless times. Plus, her second class had been canceled, which meant that she had plenty of time to get lunch before going to work. It was Monday, and a good lunch sounded like a great plan.

Ashley had gotten better about staring at Lexa during class. Sure, she still kicked off the morning with a round of pickup lines or flirting, only to get turned down politely by Lexa. At least she didn't stare openly at her all throughout the hour and fifteen minutes that class was actually going on.

Finally, the class ended, and the professor encouraged them to read over the topic in their textbook before the class on Thursday. Lexa jumped up eagerly, only hear an excited voice next to her. "Hey, Lexa! You seemed kind of bored through the lecture. Something on your mind?"

"Yeah, lunch. I'll see you later."

"Wait, you're getting lunch already? Did your next class get canceled? I mean – I just know you usually rush off to another class after this one," Ashley explained. "I could join you for lunch, if you want."

Lexa had begun walking faster to escape the lecture hall before the doorway was too crowded, and Ashley was keeping pace with her. "Um, no I don't think that's a good idea."

"Aw, why not? We're friends, aren't we?"

"Ashley, I really don't –"

"Surprise, bitch!" a voice exclaimed as Lexa exited the room. Her eyes widened significantly as she looked up to see Luna in front of her, her arms spread in a big surprise like pose.

"Luna!"

"That's me."

Lexa jumped forward and grabbed her friend in a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Decided that it was an appropriate time to pull a you and escape reality for a little while. A week, in this case. Gonna hang out with the whole gang. Anya couldn't come – school and all. Actually, I didn't really plan this at all, so she just kind of found out early this morning. I took a bus and a train to get here, Lex. Anya's pissed, though. She really shouldn't be. She ignored me all weekend."

"Whoa, slow down," Lexa said, her eyebrows raised.

"Um, Lexa?" Ashley interrupted, drawing a green gaze and a brown gaze. "Lunch?"

Luna crossed her arms. "Oh, you're Ashley, right?"

Ashley smiled proudly. "That's right."

"Sorry to be a downer, Ash – I can call you that, right? – but my friend here is in a happy, committed relationship with someone way hotter and cooler than you... and uh, she doesn't want to have lunch with you. See ya," Luna exclaimed brightly, looping her arm through Lexa's and tugging her away.

When they were a good distance away from the other girl, Lexa widened her eyes at her friend. "Well hello to you, too."

"Sorry. No one can get in the way of the Clarke and Lexa ship," Luna teased with a grin. "Holy shit, it's so awesome to see you. It's been over three months now. It's already September, what the fuck?"

"Yeah, it's crazy. But hold on, what happened with you and Anya?"

"I tried to talk to her, she got all pissy, ignored me all weekend. So I went over to her dorm this morning and told her flat out that she needs to figure her shit out, because I don't have to be in Polis with her. I mean, yeah I have a job there and it's nice, but I could've moved out here, and I stayed mostly for her. It's not like she'll be there forever. Anyway. She wanted to get into another discussion when I went over there this morning, and that's when I dropped the bomb about me taking a week off to come up here... and damn, did I make the right choice! This city is great."

Lexa laughed. "It is. Where do you want lunch? I don't have to be on campus again all day – my second class got canceled and I don't work until one."

"Wherever you want. Is your car here?"

"Oh, no. Clarke and I are trying to lessen the amount of driving we do. I can walk from here to work, and Clarke drove me here this morning. She kind of hates the subway, and it's too far for her to walk to work, but I kind of like walking. Do you mind walking? If not, we could get a taxi."

"Walking is fine," Luna answered. "I've actually been going to this new gym that just opened up in Polis. It's way nicer than the crappy one in the middle of town. It's also been a great outlet for my emotions lately. Ugh. I'm so fucking done with this back and forth that I have with Anya. Why is it so hard for her to tell her parents to fuck off?"

"I mean, I can understand why she won't tell them, since they're paying for her college. I just don't see why she feels like she would have to. It's not like she has to see them all time, and definitely not enough for them to catch on to her being in a relationship with anyone," Lexa reasoned. "I've tried talking to her, but she's just so scared. I feel bad for her, but also... I don't want either of you to hurt, you know?"

Luna nodded. "Yeah, I understand. Thanks, Lex. You're the best. Oh, speaking of, I'm taking your couch this week."

"Oh, are you?"

"Yep, I asked Clarke when I was on the train – called her. She said of course, so you can't go back on it," Luna insisted. "I hope you're ready to be roomies for a week."

"Just what we needed, after finally getting Raven moved out and into her dorm room," Lexa deadpanned.

"Don't pretend like you aren't excited to see me."

"I'm excited to see you, sure, but sharing an apartment? Yeah, I've learned that I can only do that successfully and happily with Clarke."

Luna smirked. "Well it's a good thing that you only have to deal with me for a week then. Come on, let's get food!"


	8. Chapter 8

It was Tuesday, and Lexa's classes were going to last throughout the day. Clarke had driven the brunette up to campus, and offered to pick her up as well even though she would be home before her, but Lexa refused. She declared that she wanted to start using the subway more, and Clarke honestly didn't blame her. Driving wasn't fun. On the other hand, Clarke had tried the subway a few times, and she honestly hated it. Plus, her car had been incredibly useful when working at the gallery, seeing as people often needed someone to be in charge of lugging around paintings. Her car, it seemed, was a hit with everyone who worked there.

It was probably around the time that Lexa would be heading to the nearest subway station, and Clarke was positioned in front of her easel, waiting expectantly for her girlfriend. She was hoping that somehow, Lexa would manage to get home faster than normal. Not because she wanted to start painting of course, but because a certain different brunette was seated on one of the chairs in the corner of Clarke's art room, talking wildly about her summer, and asking questions about Clarke's and Lexa's, even though Clarke was sure that Luna already knew their answers. Clarke knew that Luna and Lexa talked very often – she was one of her best friends, of course.

Lexa and her friends had integrated very well with Clarke and her friends years before, but that didn't mean that they were all on the basis of hanging out one on one. At least, Clarke wasn't. She had always been slow to becoming friends with people, and somehow, after she had been fully accepted into her current friend group, that had become more so the case. She didn't feel the need to expand her friend group for no reason.

That being said, it wasn't like she didn't consider Luna a friend. She was sure that Luna had heard a considerable amount of things about Clarke, though nothing incredibly personal, and Clarke knew countless things about the younger girl. Lexa was usually the one telling her those things, however, and Clarke had only ever hung out with Luna in bigger groups.

She thought it might be slightly awkward when she got home to find that Luna was hanging out on their couch, on her phone. The night before had been fine, because Clarke and Lexa had gotten back at the same time, and Luna had gone over to the boys' place. She was planning on hanging out with Raven and Octavia and maybe Lincoln the following day, but for now, she was talking to Clarke, and Clarke was getting slightly frustrated by it.

"You know, I would totally move here if I could. I absolutely love it here. Is it weird that I love the smell? I mean, I know it's all exhaust and pollution and smoke, but it's kind of nice, you know?" Luna asked, but Clarke knew that she wasn't waiting for an answer.

For the first time in the hour or so that this had been going on, Clarke actually took the brief pause as an opportunity to speak. "Why can't you? You don't wanna leave Anya?" Yeah, she knew everything about Luna and Anya thanks to Lexa, but that didn't mean she was going to presume to around one of the respective parties.

"Ugh, that is so complicated," Luna muttered in annoyance, and Clarke slightly hoped that it was directed toward her, and Luna would want to leave the room. "I'm sure you've heard all about it, though. Anya's come down with a lovely case of 'I'm going to pretend like I don't need you because my parents totally wouldn't approve but that's just my excuse because really my parents aren't ever around us so I'm just going to pretend that it's a legitimate reason even though we both know that I'm in love with you and I'm too terrified to admit it and also to move in with you'."

Clarke frowned. Yeah, she'd heard about that, but when Luna talked about it, she sounded far more down about it. "Well, that doesn't sound fun. I'm sure she'll come around if she loves you."

Luna released a deep sigh. "I don't know. There are lots of different types of people, you know? I think it's a miracle that Anya ever admitted that her sexuality might not be the straightest thing ever. She's gotten over the part where she thought she had to define it, but now I don't think she'll ever admit that she wants anything more than what we are now. And what we are now is quickly falling apart, and it's not my fault. I've tried so hard, too hard maybe, to get her see that it's okay if we do this, that it's right... she's just... I don't know. Terrified to commit maybe? But I think it's more than that. She's terrified of committing to a girl, to me. I don't know if that makes it better or worse."

For the first time, Clarke actually felt the need to engage in this conversation, so she set down her paint brush and turned around to face Luna, whose dark eyes widened in surprise. "Committing is hard for some people – trust me, I would know."

"But you did it just fine. I mean, mostly just fine," Luna said, shrugging.

Clarke smiled a little. "Yeah, but I already knew that I was interested in girls. If Anya's scared to commit, and she's also terrified of being with a girl as anything defined, that's gotta be so much worse. I'm not trying to justify her side or anything, I'm just saying that that's probably why she's so scared. She's got double the shit to prepare for. She's probably using her parents as an excuse, you're right, but she may feel like she's betraying them by being with you, and so even if they weren't there to see, she would feel awful."

"But why am I not worth betraying her parents?" Luna exclaimed, her frustration coming out in a wave. "She doesn't have to tell them! She can keep us a secret from as many people at home as she wants to, I don't fucking care, it's not like we'll be there for longer than two more years. I get that she doesn't want to tell them, because they pay for her college, and she wants to go into law school. Fine. But betraying their trust isn't something that would hurt her because of how much she loves them – it would hurt her because she's scared of them. I just... if they never knew, then what would there be to be scared of?"

"Have you asked her?"

Luna was quiet for a moment, averting her gaze. "I've tried, plenty of times. She won't talk to me about them, or about us anymore. One night, she doesn't wanna talk and she makes up some dumb excuse to be in her dorm room all night without me. The next, she's coming over with a cheeky smirk on her face, asking if I wanna order pizza and stay in. She's too back and forth. I just... I can't..."

"Have you told her that?"

"Sort of. Yesterday. I told her that it wasn't like I had to stay in Polis... that was probably a little harsh. I should've just told her flat out what I'm having a problem with."

Clarke smiled sadly. "Tell her when you get back."

"You're right, I should. I guess I'm just afraid that she won't hear it – she'll hear what she wants to hear and come up with some excuse..."

"You have to make sure she's going to hear you. Tell her that it's important, sit her down... something. Don't make it a joke, you know? Because it's not. Neither of your guys' feelings are a joke," Clarke stated.

Luna nodded, exhaling deeply. "Can I order pizza? I'll pay."

"Of course. You need to come visit more if you're going to buy us food every time," Clarke teased. That got Luna to smile, and Clarke felt slightly proud of herself for calming the girl down.

"Maybe I will. Though, I know that deep down, you guys hate hosting any guests."

"Deep down? Are you kidding? We are very obvious about that."

Luna smirked. "I'm gonna go order that pizza now. Hopefully it'll be here before Lexa gets back from campus." Luna left the room, and Clarke turned back to her painting. Okay, so maybe talking to Luna wasn't all that bad, and it felt somewhat lightening to know that she'd helped Luna somehow by talking to her. It wasn't often that she as the comfort provider to any of her friends, and it had happened twice now in the past week or so. Raven had come to Clarke about her relationship, Luna was comfortable talking to Clarke about hers.

Clarke had no doubt that it was because being with Lexa had made her more approachable, more soft, more able to relate to others. Or perhaps Lexa hadn't made her that way, only brought it out of her. Either way, Clarke wasn't mad about it, and she allowed herself to smile softly as she continued to paint.

About half an hour later, an incessant buzzing began from the living room, and Clarke naturally assumed it was the pizza. As did Luna, she supposed, when she heard the buzzing stop. Why the pizza delivery guy would hold down on the buzzer for more than a second was a mystery to the blonde. Either way, she abandoned her painting in order to go make sure that Luna wasn't going to eat all of the pizza before Lexa got home.

Instead of having someone knock on the door a moment later, though, it busted open to reveal Raven.

"What the fuck?" Luna demanded. "The fuck's my pizza?"

"Wow, Lu, nice to see you too. I came here because no one told me that my favorite drinking competitor was in the city until I saw Lexa before her last class, and I figured that I would come destroy you for not telling me," Raven insisted, crossing her arms over her chest in offense.

Luna rolled her eyes. "I was going to force you and Octavia to hang out with me tomorrow. I might be staying with Clarke and Lexa, but I don't really feel like dying because I didn't give them enough alone time to to the nasty."

"Yeah, so nasty," Clarke bit sarcastically, surprising Luna, who apparently didn't notice that she'd come out of her art room.

"No one wants to hear about your sex with your girlfriend, C."

"I find that surprising, because I'm pretty sure that neither of you guys are getting as much action as I am in the bedroom."

Raven smirked. "Maybe not for long. But after this weekend, assuming that it goes successfully, I intend to ask Niylah to be my girlfriend – and then we won't have to have any other excuse to have sex for hours and hours on end."

"You need an excuse for that now?"

"Yeah. We've been on two dates, Griff, don't be so weird."

Luna coughed awkwardly. "Wait, who's Niylah?"

"This girl I started dating," Raven answered with a shrug. "Anyway. What's this about pizza?"

"Wow, look at all us singles turning into not singles," Luna said with a grin, nudging Raven.

Raven gave her a pointed look. "Does that mean that you and Anya finally –"

"Ugh, never mind. Let's talk about something different."

There was another buzz through the buzzer, and Luna didn't hesitate to click it. A few moments later, after Clarke had gotten both of the two brunettes a beer, the pizza arrived. Now more than ever, Clarke needed to make sure that the two hooligans who were now taking up space in her apartment were not going to finish the pizza without saving two pieces for Lexa.

Luckily, Lexa was home ten minutes later, coming into the apartment tiredly and immediately widening her eyes at the fact that there was an extra person in the room. "Oh, hey Rae. Ooh, pizza."

"Clarke did a good job of making sure we didn't eat it all," Luna commented with a wide smile. Lexa took the last seat at the little table, leaning over to press a soft kiss onto Clarke's lips in thanks. "But I did pay for it."

"Oh, by the way," Clarke said to all three of the brunettes at the table. "We're all going out on Saturday. Luna's included, I'm sure, as long as you have a fake ID."

"Of course I do. What are we going out for?"

Clarke smirked. "Raven wanted a way to introduce her new almost girlfriend to everyone."

"I'm excited to see that," Lexa commented with a teasing smile as she grabbed a slice of pizza.

"Well don't expect me to be as mushy as Clarke is around you. Some of us can maintain our composure and badass-dom."

"I am still a badass, Raven," Clarke growled, and Lexa smirked, ducking her head.

"Sure you are, when you're not wrapped around Lexa's finger... wait, but that's like, all the time, so..."

"Fuck off."

* * *

"It's Wednesday."

"It is," Lexa agreed quietly. She'd been awake for all of five minutes, but she knew that Clarke had been awake a bit longer. The hand that was resting on Lexa's stomach had been tracing small patterns there, and that had slowly woken Lexa up. That, and the small kisses that Clarke had been pressing to the nape of her neck.

Still, when Lexa had woken, neither of them had said anything. "That means we only have like, half an hour before we have to get up."

"I have to get up in half an hour," Lexa corrected. "You have a couple hours before you have to be anywhere."

"I thought about going on a run, or something. On Monday my boss tasked me with carrying out the urgent task of chasing down a couple of artists, and I literally ran down the block, and up three flights of stairs because the elevator of the building I wound up at was broken. And I just about died," Clarke admitted.

"I'd go with you if I could, but you know, class."

"Ah yes, class. That thing that has been limiting my time with you for literally our entire relationship."

Lexa smirked. "It would be just as limited if I wasn't in school, Clarke, because I'd be working full time."

"I know, and when that time comes, I'll be whining about your work too."

"You work just as much as I'll be working."

"No, by then I'll own a gallery full of all my paintings, and I'll have a bunch of assistants and employees to carry out all the work that takes up so much time. I'll just paint and make love to you – best job ever really," Clarke murmured, pressing a sweet kiss to Lexa's shoulder.

"You're such a sap. And I love it. You're clearly feeling very confident today."

"Yes well, I figured I'd made up for all of the stress-nervous breakdowns I've had lately," Clarke replied with a sad chuckle.

Lexa wiggled a bit in her girlfriend's grasp, turning over once Clarke released her enough to allow her to do so. "You're not still stressed about that, are you?"

"No... It's all still on my mind, though. But how could it not be? It's like when you learn a new word, and suddenly that word starts showing up everywhere, but really it's just because your subconscious is forcing yourself to recognize it, or whatever. We talked about it, and now I think about it."

"What exactly do you think about?"

Clarke hummed softly. "I don't know, the whole idea of marriage and its implications and whatnot. Also my parents. And yours. I find it interesting to think that some people could be so content with never getting married, and other people treat it like its of the utmost importance. Of course, there are lots of people in the in between."

Lexa nodded.

"I think I want to. Someday. I don't know when really, but I think it's probably far too early anyway. You're not even out of school yet."

"I think what's nice about getting married," Lexa said slowly, "is that when you get engaged, you can take a whole year or more to plan your wedding, and no one really questions it. So you don't have to actually do the thing for real when you first decide to initiate it."

"Are you trying to tell me something, babe?"

Lexa batted her eyelashes. "Nope."

"Mm, whatever you say.

* * *

Lexa was stuffed in a subway train on her way home from work at the end of the day when her phone began ringing, and she answered it in a huff, hoping that she would be able to hear whoever it was even though the noise of the subway car. "Hello?"

"Hey, Lex." It was Anya, sounding distracted, or at least seeming like she wanted to sound distracted.

"Hey. What's up?"

Anya coughed awkwardly. "Is um... is Luna staying with you and Clarke?"

"Yes."

"How is she?"

"I mean, she's seemed alright, though I know that she's not doing perfect. I think it's been nice for her to get out of Polis, and hang around all of us. We're all going out on Saturday. Raven is dating someone and wants everyone to meet her," Lexa explained.

"That sounds fun. Going out to a club? Even you and Luna?"

"Yeah, we do indeed have fake Ids. Lucky for me, I won't need mine after my birthday next month," Lexa commented tightly. She wasn't quite sure where she stood with her best friend now, after trying and failing to talk to her about Luna.

"Well. I might come up this weekend."

Lexa hadn't been expecting that. "Oh. Okay."

"Do you think I could stay with you?"

"Well, we only have the couch, and Luna's on it until she leaves on... Sunday, I guess."

"Right. Well. I guess I'll ask Lincoln. Though, I'd much prefer having to listen to you and Clarke have sex than my brother and Octavia," Anya muttered dejectedly. "Ugh."

"When are you going to come down?"

"Friday night, I think. I'll do what Luna did and take a bus and a train."

"So you can go back with her on Sunday?"

"This isn't about me and Luna."

"Like hell it isn't, Anya," Lexa snapped, just as the subway was screeching to a halt at her stop. She quickly pushed through the crowd of people around her and stumbled out onto the platform, her messenger bag hugged tightly to her body. "And you and I are going to be having some girl talk time on Friday night, because I think you really need it."

"I don't, Lexa, I know what I'm doing."

"Listen to me, Anya," Lexa growled, storming her way out of the underground. "I am actually sick of this. I'm really sorry, but you need to either have a real talk with me, and then Luna, or you need to tell that girl to let you go. My two best friends are suffering right now, and while I'm sure that Luna isn't perfect, most of the problem is clearly not coming from her. And I think that you need to let out what's been bothering you, and you've always let me do that with you, so I'm going to let you do it with me. I know you need it, Anya, please let me be here for you. I want you to be okay, and I want Luna to be okay. Together, or separately... neither of you are getting anywhere on your own. I want you to talk to me about it. It's been eating you up, and I hardly recognize you anymore."

Anya sniffed, and Lexa wondered briefly if her friend was crying. "Okay." Her voice was shaky. "Saturday night. Could you meet me at the train station?" Lexa exhaled deeply through her nose.

"Yeah, of course. Just text me the details."

"Sure. I'll see you Friday then. Bye."

"Bye, An."

The call ended, and Lexa furrowed her eyebrows. Yeah, her best friend definitely needed, wanted even, to talk. Hopefully she wouldn't chicken out come Friday.


	9. Chapter 9

Lexa swung her legs back and forth, trying to focus on the textbook that was laying across her lap as she sat on the table in the corner of Clarke's art room. Honestly, though, all she could concentrate on was Clarke's ass, which looked pretty amazing in the yoga pants she was currently wearing. The blonde was painting of course, but the paint shirt she was wearing was slightly bunched up in the back, leaving her yoga-pant-covered ass for display. Lexa was starting to wonder if she did it on purpose, because she kept slightly adjusting her position, and it would just make Lexa's stare worsen.

Plus, Luna was out, and it was Thursday. Lexa didn't have any classes the following day, just work, and she and Clarke started work around the same time on Fridays. That meant that they had plenty of time to be doing not what they were currently doing.

Finally unable to resist, Lexa closed the textbook on her lap somewhat fiercely and announced, "This isn't fair."

Clarke jumped a little at the sound, luckily not messing anything up on her canvas, and turned her head with a look of confusion on her face. "What's not?"

"Your ass is right there teasing me while I'm trying to study, but I don't even have class again until Monday," Lexa stated firmly. Clarke's lips turned from a small frown into a smirk as she lifted a knowing eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? It's teasing you?"

"Yes, and you definitely did it on purpose, because your shirt is bunched up back there."

"You want me to fix it?"

"No, I want you to put down your paint and come kiss me, Clarke."

Clarke relinquished her paintbrush and turned fully. She walked slowly over to the table, stopping just before she came into contact with Lexa's knees. Green eyes couldn't move off of blue, but Clarke didn't kiss her right away, instead lifting the textbook off of her lap and letting it fall onto the table next to her with a thud that made Lexa jump in surprise. Before she could complain, though, Clarke's body fit itself in between Lexa's legs and brought their lips together in a soft kiss.

Lexa tightened her legs around Clarke, holding her there as she ran her tongue across her girlfriend's lips. The kiss became not so soft within an instant, and instead it was fast and needy and full of lust.

Lexa's hands grabbed at Clarke's shirt, pulling it upwards before Clarke could even fully separate herself from the brunette. The shirt was gone in a matter of seconds before their lips came back together again. Lexa released a moan, the sound of which barely escaped past Clarke's tongue and lips, but the blonde felt it.

"We've had sex entirely too many times on this table," Clarke murmured into Lexa's lips, and the brunette pulled away for a moment.

"Maybe, but you know what we haven't done?"

She pushed off of the table suddenly, surprising Clarke as she stood and turned them around. Clarke's ass pressed into the edge of the table now, and darkened blue eyes were searching green ones expectantly.

Clarke had always been the more experimental one when it came to sex, that was for sure. Of course, that was probably because Clarke was the one who had been more experienced when the two of them got together in the first place. She was also more often the top. That being said, it was Clarke's table, and Lexa was the only one who had ever cum all over it.

Lexa gripped the top of the tight yoga pants that were hugging Clarke's ass so perfectly, and pulled them down. Clarke helped in kicking them away once they'd pooled around her feet, and then Lexa took in a breath, hoisting Clarke up onto the table and rejoining their lips.

The rest of Clarke's clothing came off almost as if by itself, and she was naked with her back on the table top before Lexa could even register that she was fully on top of the blonde. Clarke was breathless, her bare chest rising and falling fast and heavy against Lexa's as their tongues battled it out.

Lexa pulled up to strip off her own top, disliking how clothed she was, and then she lowered her mouth to Clarke's chest. The blonde released a moan, following up by a slight whimper as she bucked up her hips.

Only after she'd given both of Clarke's boobs equal attention did Lexa make any move to pleasure Clarke elsewhere. She found herself standing at the edge of the table, lowering herself between Clarke's legs, which she gently pushed apart. She stared at the beauty that was Clarke for a moment, before she again became aware of Clarke's panting.

She gave in, moving her face to Clarke's center and pressing her tongue against it. Clarke's hips bucked again slightly, and Lexa finally entered her girlfriend. She went slowly, tasting Clarke and loving it as always. But when Clarke's hands were tangled in her hair and she was pleading, "Lexa, please just make me fucking cum!", Lexa had to give in.

She reveled in the fact that she could make Clarke scream out her name in her moment of ecstasy. That knowledge never failed to feed her ego.

Lexa pressed a few soft kisses onto the insides of Clarke's thighs as the blonde's chest rose and fell heavily, and then she stood, standing still in between her legs. "That's what you get for teasing me with your ass while I was trying to study."

Clarke smirked. "I'm not complaining, babe." She sat up slowly, still breathing heavily. "We're gonna have to whip out the disinfectant wipes before Luna gets back, though."

"Which is –"

"Are you guys in here?" The door swung open suddenly and Lexa immediately sidestepped so that she was blocking Clarke's body as best as she could with her partially clothed self from the door. "Oh my god. Yeah. Hey."

"Luna..."

"Right, I'm going." The door closed again, and Clarke rolled her eyes.

"Which is right now, I think."

* * *

Clarke was in the shower, and Lexa was seated next to Luna on the couch. After recovering from the awkwardness of Luna walking in to see Clarke naked on the table, their visitor began telling Lexa about how cool she thought New York City was. She proceeded to suggest that she and Lexa go out the following night and explore some more, and that's when Lexa remembered her conversation with Anya the previous day, which she had somehow forgot to mention to Luna.

Well, forgot was a particular word, she supposed. She'd told Clarke, but she thought that maybe it would be a good idea to not mention it to Luna. "Um, actually," she started apologetically.

"Do you have plans with Clarke? C'mon, Lex, you get to see Clarke all the time."

"No, it's not... Ah, Anya said she's coming up this weekend. She's gonna get up here tomorrow evening and I'm going to meet her at the train station after work, and we're gonna go grab dinner just the two of us."

Luna's eyes were wide. "Oh. Um. She's not staying here, is she?"

"No, she was going to ask Lincoln," Lexa replied reassuringly. "I told her there wasn't anymore room here – which there isn't."

Luna nodded. "Is she coming because I'm here, or what?"

"I think she needs a break too, Lu. And I think that she actually wants to talk for once, so I'm going to go out and talk to her."

"I feel really bad that you're dragged into all of this, Lexa," Luna stated bluntly. "I mean, I appreciate that you're trying to help me and Anya, but you don't have to be so involved in this shit that's going on. It's not your relationship."

Lexa pursed her lips. "If you really don't want me to talk to her about you, I won't, and I won't talk to you about her. Just say the word. It's just that you two are my best friends, and you're clearly not able to talk to each other, so who else are you going to talk to about this? Anyway, me talking to Anya about relationships in general could help, not just you specifically."

Luna sighed. "You're not wrong."

"Like I said, if you don't want me to talk to her about it, I won't."

"No, it's fine. I hope you can get her to open up. It's hard knowing that she's keeping it all inside and won't talk about it me... or anyone." Luna shook her head. "Yeah, sorry, this got depressing. I'll have to come up another time for you to officially give me a whole tour of this place. Or I guess maybe I can get Raven and Clarke to take me tomorrow night to look around."

Lexa smiled, nodding. "Honestly, I think Raven's really excited to challenge you to another drinking competition. So if you go out with her tomorrow night, she might initiate it early."

"That bitch can wait, I'm not going to get wasted for her two nights in a row," Luna insisted with a smirk.

* * *

Clarke sprawled herself across Octavia's couch pointedly, staring up at the ceiling. Her friend wasn't home yet, but Lincoln had let her in anyway, saying that she'd be back within a half hour or so. Lexa was still at work, and Luna was out exploring or something. Clarke herself had just gotten out of work, but had forgone going home to an empty apartment in favor of coming to see Octavia.

Who, of course, she had to wait for.

"Long day?" Lincoln asked, coming back over to the living room after grabbing a soda from the kitchen. Clarke sat up a bit and gratefully accepted the can.

"Eh, not too bad," Clarke replied, popping open her drink and gulping down a large portion of it. She chuckled when she lowered it to see Lincoln raising an eyebrow at her. "I might be a little bit tired, though. Anya's coming down tonight, though, and Lexa's going out, so I'll probably just chill with Octavia until I can barely keep my eyes open, and then I'll go home and crash."

"Do you know why Anya decided to come visit spur of the moment?" Lincoln asked curiously, seating himself on the coffee table. Clarke shrugged.

"I mean, I think it has to do with the fact that Luna's here. Things between them have been weird, I don't know if Anya's talked to you about it. She hasn't to anyone else, though, and I think Lexa is hoping she'll talk to her later today." Clarke took another sip of the soda, wanting the caffeine desperately. "Honestly, Lexa's way too nice to them. If it were me, I think I'd tell them to take a fucking break. Distance only makes the heart grow fonder."

Lincoln laughed with a shake of his head. "Yeah, you say that, but I have a hard time believing that you'd actually say that to any of your friends if they were having relationship issues. Would you tell Octavia that if she and I had been fighting?"

"Probably... not," Clarke answered, her shoulders falling a little. "Okay, so maybe I'm secretly a sap and I care a lot."

"It's not a secret, Clarke, and definitely not to me. I didn't know you well enough before you met Lexa to assume that you ever weren't a sap."

"Ugh, I forget that sometimes."

Lincoln smiled softly. "How have you and Lexa been?"

"Good," Clarke answered firmly. "You and O?"

"Also good." Lincoln smiled a little wider. "Octavia's been pestering me lately, though, in what she must think is a very subtle way to get me to ask her to marry me."

Clarke raised her eyebrows a little. "Really?"

"Yeah. Honestly, I think I might ask her sometime next year. That way it's not too soon, but also not so far off that she thinks I won't, you know?" Lincoln asked, and Clarke nodded even though she didn't know. "She's it for me, anyway. My parents will be so thrilled – they love Octavia – and probably will pay for the whole thing... they'd honestly fight Octavia's parents on which should pay for it if her parents tried."

Clarke smiled. "I think that's awesome, Linc. Octavia loves you so much that it's possibly excessive." She said it with a teasing tone, and Lincoln smirked.

"I can't say that that really bothers me, fortunately. And you're one to talk, Clarke. You and Lexa are the epitome of being overly adorable and lovey."

Clarke turned up her nose playfully. "There's no such thing as overly adorable. Plus, how could we not be? Lexa is perfect."

"You know," Lincoln said with a warm smile on his face, "when Lexa first told me that she was dating a girl, it kinda caught me by surprise. But when she said it was you, I pretty much did a double take. I'd seen you around a couple of times, and usually the picture wasn't the most promising... but ever since I started college a few years before Lexa, we got kind of distanced. Kinda sad, honestly, but I guess relationships change and shit happens. Either way, though, Lexa as a kid was always serious and concerned. The times that she was playful and more fun were literally times to be cherished... and then she met you, and I don't think I've seen her go more than an hour without smiling like an idiot since then."

Clarke blushed. Sometimes she forgot that Lincoln had known Lexa as a kid, because she rarely looked at him and remembered that he was Anya's brother. Though, she was sure that Lexa viewed him that way. "I don't think you give yourself enough credit, though, Linc. Lexa's always looked at you more like a brother figure. And I think it's probably helped her a lot as she gets to know her half brother. She always wanted a sibling because of you."

The door bust open suddenly, revealing a very distraught Octavia. "Fuck!" Lincoln and Clarke looked to the brunette with wide eyes, and the former was immediately speaking.

"What's wrong, babe? Are you okay?"

Octavia let out a frustration groan, and then seemed to realize that there was a third person in the room. "Oh. Hi Clarke. Please tell me that you didn't know that Raven is secretly dating someone?"

Clarke opened her mouth, surprised, and then let it fall closed again. "Uh..."

"Clarke! What the fuck? Does everyone know but me?"

"No, Octavia! Only me and Lexa... err uh, and Luna, but that's not – no, Octavia," she settled on, wincing at her own defenses. "No. And it's not like it's been going on for months or anything. And she was going to tell you tomorrow. Wait, how did you even find out about it?"

Octavia crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "Well, I went over to Raven's dorm, because I haven't seen it yet because of work, and I opened up the door to find her tangled up in the sheets with some college girl. And honestly, I wasn't that surprised until the girl excused herself and Raven announced to me that she's been dating this girl and was considering asking her to be her girlfriend."

Clarke sighed, exasperated. "You can't possibly be mad at her? Raven hasn't been in a relationship for a while, Octavia."

"I'm not mad," Octavia insisted, though her tone of voice contradicted the statement easily. "Maybe just sort of offended that she didn't think it was important to tell her best friend about this girl. It's not like I didn't know she was sometimes interested in girls. And I know her better than anybody, so I don't get it!"

Lincoln sighed. "O, maybe she has a good reason for not telling you."

"There isn't a good reason that she could possibly have!"

"Look, Octavia, not everybody is capable of deciding how they feel and announcing it to the world," Clarke snapped, standing and setting her nearly empty soda can on the coffee table. She faced Octavia head on, taking a step toward her. "Not everybody can be that comfortable. Some people need to validate their own feelings alone, and not be influenced by other people who view love and relationships completely differently than they do. It's not like it's easy for someone to lie about how they feel about someone, but it's probably way fucking harder for a lot of people to go out and make those feelings public."

"I didn't ask her to do that! All I would've wanted was for her to tell me, her best friend."

"Maybe she thought that you would make assumptions that she wasn't ready to hear from anyone. Maybe she thought that you would immediately jump to conclusions or apply your relationship to hers. You don't know what was going through her head, Octavia, but it's really not fair for you to be mad at her," Clarke stated firmly.

Octavia looked hurt, and Clarke immediately jumped to explain herself.

"Look, O. Raven hasn't been in a relationship for a long time, and she really cares what you think. If she didn't tell you, she had a real reason. Did you ask her why she didn't tell you?"

"I did, and she said it was hard to explain... so I told her she could just call me when she decided that it was an appropriate time for her best friend to find out about her relationship," Octavia muttered, and the way that she said it indicated that she must've been slightly harsh with her wording. "Fuck, I just got so mad. She doesn't keep things from me."

Lincoln was the next one talking. "I'm sure you can call her and straighten this all out pretty quickly, babe. You and Raven are best friends." Octavia nodded sadly.

"I guess it just felt like she didn't trust me or something."

"You are her best friend, Octavia, and she was worried the most about what you thought. I think she was trying to psych herself up to it," Clarke said softly. "You should call Raven. Or go back and talk to her."

"I will," Octavia agreed sadly. "But you came over here to hang out, didn't you? You wanna come with me? Lincoln's going out with the guys soon, anyway, so it's that or go back home and be alone – I know that's why you're here."

Clarke rolled her eyes. "Sure, I'll come. But if you start fighting with Raven or something, I'm not jumping in between it."

Octavia smiled, stepping over to Lincoln to press a kiss to his lips. "I'll see you tonight, babe."

"It'll be kind of late," Lincoln reminded her.

"Yes, and I'll be waiting for you." She said it very suggestively, and Clarke faked a gag, getting a glare from her friend. Lincoln just smirked.

"Bye, Clarke. It was nice talking to you."

"See you tomorrow, Lincoln."


	10. Chapter 10

"How was the train?" Lexa asked her friend, who looked relieved to be walking.

"Ugh. Alright, I guess. It went by so slowly, though, because I was doing homework the whole time, and homework is not a task that makes time fly by," Anya replied. "This place is so cool, though. I can really see the appeal."

"Any chance you're considering coming here for law school?"

Anya shrugged. "I totally would, I mean some of the best law schools are pretty close to here. Actually, NYU is up there, so it's totally possible that I end up going there. Though, money is a factor. I don't know how much my parents are willing to put up, but since they really want me to be a lawyer, I wouldn't be surprised if they paid for most of my law school as well. If they don't, though, then I might end up just going to the University of Virginia. It's in state tuition that way, and it has a good law school. Tied with Berkeley."

"Well, if you can come to New York, you should," Lexa said with a supportive grin. "Though, I guess I could manage to vacation back down to Virginia every once and a while to hang out with you."

Anya laughed. "You sound so excited for that."

"What kind of food do you want? I'm starving, I just got out of work and hung out at the train station for a while waiting for you to come in," Lexa admitted.

"You didn't go home?"

"No point. I think Luna's out, and I don't think Clarke would've gone home just to spend the whole evening in alone unless she was going to paint," the brunette explained. "It's fine, though, I just wanna eat. So what will it be?"

"Um... pizza?"

They ended up at a pizza place that was an easy walking distance from Penn Station, and then found themselves walking lazily down the street as they ate their slices of pizza. People were rushing around the sidewalks as per usual, but they managed somehow to not get run over by anyone. "How are you parents?" Lexa found herself asking. "I heard that Luna got to meet them officially recently."

"Yeah, they're fine. In the beginning of summer, they were being pretty sensitive and snappy, because of Lincoln leaving, but they've relaxed a bit now," Anya answered with a shrug. "I haven't talked to them much, actually. I agreed to dinner with them, and then realized how uncomfortable it might be, which is why I asked Luna to come with me. Though, I think that just made it more uncomfortable in general."

"Why? Did they not like her?"

"I don't know," Anya admitted. "I think it got weird when she mentioned her college situation – aka, didn't do a STEM major, only got a two year degree... yeah, my parents are big fans of that. I always thought that our parents were about equal when it came to viewpoints on people and school, but somehow you ended up with the way cooler parent. How did that happen?"

"I guess the universe set that up so that she could compensate for my absent father," Lexa answered, amused.

"Have you talked to him at all?"

Lexa furrowed her eyebrows. Had she not mentioned any of her current family drama to Anya? She recalled mentioning it to her mother over text a few nights ago, but her mom was very busy with the start up of the new semester, so that's the most conversation they'd had in a while. Making a mental note to call her mother soon, she turned her thought back to Anya. "Um, yeah. His crazy wife called me, freaking out about how I was talking to Aden... and then Anthony came up and well... apparently, he and his wife are getting divorced. He said it's best for them and for Aden, but Aden doesn't know yet. Clarke and I agreed to babysit him next weekend while they're doing the official divorce and moving out stuff. They also think that will keep Aden from being really upset when they tell him about the divorce."

Anya frowned. "Wow. That's... intense. At least he's got a sister like you. It's always nice being a younger sibling and knowing that your older sibling always has your back. I know Lincoln will always be here for me, no matter what."

"Yeah, I'd love to be that for him. I think he's pretty lonely – I mean he has friends, but I think we all kind of know that middle school friendships don't always last forever, and they're not always the healthiest things ever either," Lexa reasoned. "Anyway, yeah, that's my current family situation. So I'm here trying to help my little brother while you're trying to keep your parents from knowing that you have a tendency to sleep with a woman?"

Anya's expression immediately darkened, but something about it told Lexa that she knew that this conversation would be brought up at some point. "Look, Lexa, I don't want to talk about Luna this weekend."

"Okay, neither do I. Frankly, I've been doing that a lot lately, talking to her about you and you about her."

"She talks to you about me?"

"Of course she does, Anya," Lexa answered in a rush, exasperated slightly. "She can't talk to you about you, so she talks to me. Granted, I try to get her to. I don't want her to keep everything bottled up. I also don't want you to keep everything bottled up. I get if you don't wanna talk about it very much, An, but you need to let me just tell you one thing."

Anya nodded, staying silent.

"Your parents don't know about you and Luna being together right now, and admitting how you feel to her wouldn't change that. And in two years or so, you'll be moved out of Polis officially, and you won't have to even work to keep it a secret from them. I know that that's why you won't open up to Luna – that, and maybe you still feel like you can't accept yourself, like you're not up to par just because you like her as more than a friend. But either way, I know that you care about Luna, and you are hurting her. She loves you, and you know that, and you might think that she knows how you feel about that, but she doesn't. And she won't, unless you talk to her. I'm not joking around and pushing you to ask her to be your girlfriend, and I'm not trying to judge, all I'm asking of you is to talk to the girl you're dating about how you feel about dating her," Lexa finished, taking in a deep breath after all of her breath was depleted.

Anya's eyes were watery, but she sniffed and wiped at them before any tears could fall. "Fuck, Lexa. Why do I always screw shit up so badly?"

"You don't always. Just sometimes." Her tone was teasing, and Anya released a weak laugh, shaking her head, but Lexa was talking before she could say anything, "And you haven't completely screwed anything up yet, okay? You just need to talk to Luna, for real."

Anya let out a deep breath, and it was at this point that Lexa realized that they'd both finished their pizza slices. They dumped their trash into a nearby garbage can, and Lexa gave her best friend a smile. Anya returned it, though her eyes were still slightly watery. "Um, Lincoln said he had plans with Bellamy, Jasper and Monty tonight, but he said that Octavia would meet me at the apartment if I just texted her."

"Let's see where she is then," Lexa suggested, grabbing her phone due to the assumption that Anya didn't really feel like talking on the phone to anyone. It rung twice before the brunette answered.

"Sup Lexi-Loo?" Octavia asked brightly.

"Are you home? Anya and I just finished eating and she said Lincoln's out tonight?"

"Oh, yeah, he is. I'm at Raven's dorm on campus. Your girlfriend's here too, you should just meet us here and then Anya and I can take the subway back home and Clarke can drive you," Octavia suggested.

"Sounds good, see you soon." Anya raised an eyebrow. "They're on campus, at Raven's dorm. She and Clarke, I mean. We can meet them there. Are you ready for your first subway experience?"

"Can't we take a cab?"

"No, subway's more fun," Lexa teased, grinning. "Come on."

When they finally got to campus, Lexa told Anya briefly what she liked about all of it – the classes and the campus itself. Anya seemed to like it, and Lexa wasn't very subtle about the fact that she would love her best friend to choose NYU for law school.

They made their way to Raven's dorm, and heard laughing coming from inside of it as they approached the door. Lexa knocked once, hearing a loud, "Come in!" and then opened the door.

"Hey, hey!" Raven chimed brightly. "Hey Anya. Long time no see."

Clarke and Octavia were sitting on the floor of Raven's room, and Raven was on her bed. "Hey," Anya returned, smiling at the group. It was pretty safe to say that Luna had always integrated a bit better into the bigger group than Anya had, but Anya always had an anchor, so she never seemed very put off by it.

Lexa sat by her girlfriend, who gave her a pleased peck on the lips in greeting, and then the brunette asked, "So why are we all here in Raven's dorm?"

Octavia smirked. "Well, I walked in on Rae Rae here fucking some girl earlier, and then when I found out that this girl has taken Raven out twice and I hadn't heard about it, I got kinda pissed. And then I felt like an idiot for being mad, so Clarke came with me to apologize to her. And now we've just been too lazy to get up, I guess. Plus, Lincoln's out, and you were out with Anya, and turns out that Clarke is such a sap that when she's at home without you, she gets all sad."

"Aw," Lexa cooed playfully at the blonde next to her, whose eyes narrowed.

"You'll pay for that, Octavia."

"Oh yeah, how so?"

Clarke paused, keeping up her glare as best as she could as she tried to think of something to use as a threat. She ended up coughing awkwardly and muttering, "Somehow."

"Where's Luna?" Anya asked curiously in a quiet voice, and Clarke gave Lexa a curious look. Green eyes met blue ones and did her best to silently answer the question there, and when Clarke just nodded once, she assumed that it must've worked.

"I think she's been out exploring New York or something," Raven answered, and Clarke nodded.

"She texted Lexa and I earlier today and said she wouldn't be back at our place until late, so we shouldn't wait up for her. Except that she forgot that she doesn't have a key to the place, so we have to wait up for her anyway," Clarke commented with a tight smile.

Lexa chuckled. "Luna is always a fun character, huh?"

"She's a great drinking competitor," Raven commented.

"She said something about maybe going out drinking with you tonight, but I guess she just decided to be on her own all day."

Raven hummed thoughtfully. "Yeah, well, she didn't ask me at all, so I guess she did. Unfortunately, she and I won't get to compete during this visit then, because I am not getting plastered while Niylah's there. You guys are all such drunk idiots that I can't afford to become one as well and embarrass myself."

"What if Niylah wants to drink?" Octavia questioned.

Raven sniffed. "Well, then I'll take care of her. I can't be sloppy."

Clarke faked a cough, saying, "Whipped."

"Don't tease me! I'm not – "

"Hey, Rae," Lexa interrupted, "with the amount of teasing you've done to literally all of us, you really can't be complaining right now."

Raven just narrowed her eyes in annoyance, and Lexa grinned at her, leaning into her girlfriend happily.

Later that night, Clarke was in the shower when Luna got back to the apartment, so Lexa had to clamber out of bed in her pajamas to let her in. "Hey, Lu. Raven said you never asked her if she wanted to hang out with you tonight."

Luna shrugged, entering the apartment and going straight for the couch. "Yeah, I thought I'd just be alone instead."

"Are you okay?"

"I was just kinda bummed hearing about Anya coming up. Mostly because my first instinct was to be excited, and then I realized that she probably doesn't even wanna talk to me. So I decided to just explore alone, and then she texted me about an hour ago from Octavia's place I guess, and asked me if I wanted to get breakfast with her tomorrow," Luna admitted, flopping down onto the couch comfortably.

Lexa was only slightly surprised. "Are you going?"

"Yep."

"Okay well... I hope everything goes okay."

Luna gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Lex. I'm gonna go to bed, Anya's an early riser and I won't give her the satisfaction of teasing me because I'm late."

"Got it. Goodnight." Lexa returned the smile and then disappeared back into her room. She sincerely hoped that her two best friends could work everything out.

* * *

Clarke and Lexa laid curled up in their bed, without clothes. They'd fallen asleep naked the night before, though they hadn't actually engaged any other activity other than sleeping. It was just sometimes a lot more comfortable to curl into each other and feel each other's bare skin against each other. Upon waking up late into Saturday morning, Lexa peeked out the door of the bedroom to confirm that Luna had gone out like she said. Once they were sure that they were alone, they got up to throw some sort of breakfast together, not bother to dress.

They'd ended up trying to make eggs, succeeding despite the fact that Lexa's over easy egg ended up scrambled, and Clarke's over medium egg ended up over hard. Afterwards, they made coffee and cuddled up in their bed, finding something mildly interesting on Netflix that they hadn't yet seen. Then the immediate effect of the caffeine ended up pulling them into sleep, and Clarke woke up first.

She muted the TV and looked down at her girlfriend fondly. She knew that Lexa would wake up pretty quickly – coffee naps didn't last long anyway. Leaning down, she placed a fluttery kiss on Lexa's shoulder, and then carefully began to pull herself away from the brunette. Just slightly, causing her girlfriend to groan in annoyance and try to pull closer. Clarke, however, just rolled on top of the younger girl, pressing her lips into her neck.

Wanting Lexa to wake up, Clarke pressed her hands against Lexa's sides and traced her figure. Lexa was soft and nice, and Clarke would never get enough of touching her and feeling her. Just as her hands reached Lexa's hips, the brunette murmured, "What are you doing on top of me?"

"It's comfy up here," Clarke claimed, ducking her head down in between Lexa's boobs and pressing kisses there. "We've been naked for like a solid twelve hours and haven't had sex, too, which is totally a problem."

"Oh is it?"

"Yes, because tonight we're going out, and we might end up drinking and coming back and just sleeping."

"Since when have we ended drinking by not having sex?" Lexa asked, chuckling but arching her back slightly as Clarke's lips against her skin turned into lips and tongue. "Clarke, Luna's probably gonna be back soon."

"Which is why we should have sex now before she does," Clarke reasoned.

Lexa hummed thoughtfully. "I guess that makes sense."

Clarke pushed herself up slightly, and Lexa pouted at the loss of the comfortable weight against her. Clarke stayed straddling her, however, looking down at her with darkened eyes. "You're so beautiful."

Blood rushed up into Lexa's cheeks as she bit down on her lower lip. No matter how many times Clarke complimented her, she would never stop blushing. It still sometimes seemed impossible that Clarke could find her beautiful – Clarke, who was sexy and intimidating and physically flawless. "Oh. Thanks."

"You're such a dork."

Lexa bit down on her lips harder, because Clarke's hands were resting on her hips, her fingers tickling the skin there slightly. "Maybe, but you love it."

"Of course I do," Clarke agreed. She bent down and met Lexa's lips in a hot kiss, and Clarke began to trace the curves of her body again, causing her to arch up slightly at the entrancing touch of her girlfriend. When Lexa couldn't breathe, she tugged her lips away, panting already and releasing a quiet moan when Clarke's tongue began to find its way down her body.

She didn't go lower than Lexa's belly button, however, and eventually came back up to Lexa's lips, meeting them in another searing kiss. Lexa's hands now found Clarke's waist, dragging the pads of her fingers up the smooth skin until she got to soft boobs, which she squeezed happily.

Clarke released a silent gasp into Lexa's mouth, pulling up and away when she realized that Lexa was touching her. "No touching," Clarke declared, grabbing Lexa's hands and holding them up above her head. Lexa's chest was rising and falling rapidly, and Clarke dove down to meet it with her mouth again, releasing Lexa's hands again. The brunette did her best to not touch the blonde, but she gave up when the burning in between her legs became too much. At that point, she buried her hands into messy blonde hair and pushed downward pleadingly. "Please, Clarke," she whined, and Clarke didn't argue, going for Lexa's center without question. Her right hand held down Lexa's hips as her left hand's fingers found their way to her opening and her tongue began to tease her clit.

Lexa's entire body burned and her breathing became quicker and quicker as Clarke's fingers moved in and out, and her tongue played with the sensitive ball of nerves in between her legs.

"Fuck! Fuck, Clarke, f-fuck!" Lexa heard herself shouting, One of her hands escaped Clarke's hair, finding her own breasts and kneading them purposefully as she felt herself getting so close. "Oh shit, Clarke, I'm so close, fuck!"

Her whole body tensed as she let out a euphoric cry, and then she abruptly began to come down, her vision spotty. She knew quite well why this orgasm had hit her so hard – for the past week, they'd been keeping their sex quieter and slower for the sake of their house guest. Knowing that Luna was gone was, apparently, a perfect way to return back to normalcy.

"Fuck," Lexa breathed out in a puff of air.

Clarke was sucking Lexa's liquids off of her own fingers, and then settled back on top of the brunette, resting her head on her chest and looking at her girlfriend curiously. "Told you that this needed to happen."

"Hey, I'm not complaining," Lexa murmured happily. "I'm just slightly bummed that I'm going to have to get up at all to get ready for tonight. I'd much rather stay in bed with you all day."

Blue eyes brightened, as though she didn't already know this to be a fact. "I love you, Lexa."

"I love you, too."

Clarke looked uncertain for a moment, clearly debating whether or not to say something, and she bit down firmly on her lower lip. Lexa furrowed her eyebrows a little, her hands going to Clarke's back and rubbing it softly. "You okay?"

"You know. Just trying to figure out how I got lucky enough to end up with you," Clarke whispered.

"You're crazy. You are way more of a catch than I am."

Clarke shook her head. "Babe, don't even try to argue with me. I was broken until I met you."

"No," Lexa argued firmly, "you were not. You got out of your dark times without me, and you may have been still bruised from it all, but not broken. Never broken. And you're not broken now, and you wouldn't be broken without me."

"I'd be broken if I had to lose you."

Lexa's face softened. "Well, it's a good thing that you won't have to lose me then, isn't it?"

* * *

"Hey! Femslash couple number one has arrived!" Octavia exclaimed happily as Clarke and Lexa approached them in front of their usual hangout club. It seemed that all the boys had arrived, as well as Lincoln and Octavia, and Clarke and Lexa were the first of the last half to show up.

"Femslash?" Lexa asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Yeah, it's like, code for girl on girl," Octavia replied.

Clarke gave her friend a concerned look. "Do I want to know why you know that?"

"I've spent lots of time on the internet, C."

"Right..."

Jasper smirked. "What kind of things are you looking at on the internet then, O?"

"I don't know if I like where this is going," Lincoln commented with a raised eyebrow. Octavia just grinned mischievously, leaning up to give her boyfriend a kiss. "Didn't Raven wanna introduce her bae to us all? Where the fuck is she?"

"Oh hey, it's femslash couple number two," Bellamy pointed out, nodding to Luna and Anya, who were approaching the group together. They hadn't come back to Clarke and Lexa's apartment at all, and Lexa had texted Luna only to confirm that she was coming to the hangout. She hadn't asked about the stuff with Anya, but now it was clear that they'd spent the whole day together.

"Hey, guys," Lexa greeted them with a wide smile. "What did you guys do today?"

Anya looked to Luna. "Lu took me to all the super cool places she apparently discovered while scouring the city all week. I have to say, this city is pretty awesome. At least, very alive."

"I wish I had more time for stuff like that," Monty commented. "It does kind of suck that it can't be like a vacation here, since we're living here. But I guess off days like this are what make it so fun."

"Yeah," Luna said, "well, I for one can't wait to move here someday. On the other hand, it is nice to just be here and not be working or anything. But you know. Now that Anya's here, I had to take the liberty to taking my girlfriend out on the town."

Lexa raised her eyebrows, and everyone else in the group looked just as surprised as she did. "Girlfriend, huh?"

Anya scowled. "Don't give us that look, okay?" She was clinging to Luna's hand suddenly, and it occurred to Lexa that the attention probably still made her uncomfortable. She just gave her best friends a wide grin, and then the group's attention was pulled away from the two of them as Octavia noticed Raven and Niylah approaching.

No one had gotten a real look at Niylah, other than Octavia possibly, so Lexa's first instinct was to analyze her appearance. Not in a judgmental way, of course, but just in general. She was a few inches taller than Raven, with wavy hair a color between blonde and brunette. For some reason, Lexa could easily imagine Raven and this girl as a couple, which she supposed shouldn't be surprising, since Raven's hand was intertwined with the girl's.

"Hey, Rae!" Clarke was the first one to break the silence that had washed over them, as the pair approached. "And you must be Niylah. I'm Clarke." Niylah smiled brightly, and Clarke took the liberty of introducing everyone else as well. "This is my girlfriend Lexa. That's Octavia and Lincoln – I think you met the former in a weird situation yesterday. Then Luna and Anya. Bellamy, Jasper and Monty."

"It's so nice to meet you all. Raven talks about you all like you're her family," Niylah commented, smiling briefly at the brunette next to her, who flushed a little.

"Yeah, I guess I sorta like them," she muttered, and Lexa found herself smirking. Yes, Raven had found the one who would make her into a sap, that much was clear.

Octavia grinned wildly. "Now that we're all here, let's head inside so that we can at least get some drinks. And I'm gonna need some dancing tonight, that's for sure."

The majority of them ended up at the bar for a while, sipping drinks and talking amicably. Niylah adjusted to their group fairly easily, especially as they all took turns asking her about things and striking up new conversations. Clarke asked her briefly about med school, mentioning that she'd considered once in middle school becoming a doctor, until she realized that she wanted to be nothing like her mom and decided against it. Plus, art had always been her passion.

More than once, Niylah got Raven to blush or fumble over her words a bit, and Lexa couldn't stop smirking every time it happened. Especially when she said to Monty that she'd taken Raven out to see a cheesy romance movie and the brunette had actually teared up at the end. Raven immediately tried to deny it, but her entire face lit up like a red traffic light, and she received her fair share of teasing. After all, they had much teasing to make up for considering how much she'd dished out over the years.

The whole night wasn't spent grilling Niylah and Raven, though, because at some point, Luna tugged Anya off onto the dance floor, and Clarke turned to Lexa with her slightly glossy blue eyes lit up in excitement. "Dance with me, cutie?"

"Hmm, maybe."

"Oh come on, you'd had three drinks by now, you should be all over me," Clarke teased.

Lexa smirked. "Mm. Well. Maybe you just don't do it for me anymore."

"Oh really? You mean earlier today when my face was between your legs, that just didn't do it for you?"

Lexa felt her face flush at the same time that a fire began in between her legs. "Okay fine, let's dance."

The music was loud, and pulsed in time with the flashing lights. The noise and movement of the crowd, along with the alcohol in her system, made Lexa feel incredibly hyped to dance. Plus, dancing with Clarke never had a downside. Especially not now, when Clarke was clearly horny and Lexa was, well, also horny. And for nearly an hour straight, they moved along with the beat on the dance floor. Most of their dancing was just their bodies pressed against each others, grinding and feeling each other up probably way too much. Were Lexa a few drinks deeper in, she may have pulled Clarke off somewhere and tried to have some silent, sneaky sex. Not that it would've worked if they had tried.

By the end of the night, most of all of them were tipsy to drunk, though Anya was completely sober as per usual, and Raven and Niylah were both relatively level headed. Luna had been put off by the fact that she couldn't have a drinking competition with Raven, but had gotten over it pretty easily once she realized that that meant that she could stay more even with her new girlfriend.

They ended up all outside of the club together, laughing at some joke that Jasper had just rattled off, and started splitting off in groups. Luna and Anya decided to split up and head to the separate places they were staying, and when Luna, Clarke and Lexa climbed into a taxi headed for their apartment, Luna caught them up briefly on what had happened between them.

It was mostly lots of emotional back and forth between them, before confessions were made, along with promises and apologies, and voila, here they were. Not completely fixed, of course, as they both had efforts to make, but Lexa was happy that her friends were happy, and that was that.

It was into the early early morning when Clarke and Lexa finally fell back into bed together, stripped of their clothes and not hesitating to make love to each other. They forgot about Luna in the next room, letting their pleasures be noisy and drawn out, but by the time they finally collapsed into each other and passed out, everything just felt right.


	11. Chapter 11

Sunday was a lazy day, since most of the gang were busy nursing their hangovers, but Clarke and Lexa did manage to see both Luna and Anya off at the Penn Station when they left late in the afternoon. It was at that point that Lexa remembered some homework she needed to get done, and so Clarke stuffed herself up in her art room to try and finish her current work. It was a commission, so it would do her good to finish it as soon as possible. She was actually quite pleased with the progress she'd been making with her art career. She had no shortage of people online requesting commissions, and she often had to turn some down. Though, she never turned them down due to time constraints – it was often bad quality photos that she turned away with a request for the person to pick a different photograph. Plus, working at an active gallery had introduced her to many more artists, as well as investors, and she felt more and more a part of the local artist community.

The only thing Clarke was sure that she loved more than her art, and this was a realization that she'd had slowly during the first year and a half or so of her relationship with her girlfriend, was Lexa. Loving Lexa came to Clarke like breathing – it was an innate ability, one that she cherished. Lexa filled her up and completed her, and though Lexa believed that Clarke would've found herself succeeding in life without her, Clarke herself was sure that that wasn't true.

She was nearly done copying the photo in front of her onto her canvas – it was bright and alive, a happy image of a couple just married. Like she'd told Lexa before, as soon as the idea of marriage was mentioned by Raven weeks earlier, it would not stop popping up everywhere. Thankfully, though, she'd had no qualms about painting this picture, and she was more than proud of how it had turned out.

However, the same thoughts kept cycling through her head when it came to the topic, though new ones had begun filtering in lately. Ones that she hadn't thought she'd ever actively be thinking, or at least not anytime in the near future.

She found herself zoning out suddenly, trying to figure out what her conflicting thoughts were actually saying, and was only broken from her trance a few minutes later when her phone began to ring. Blinking, the blonde set down her paintbrush and moved over to the corner of the room, where her phone was resting on her paint splattered table. She found herself sitting on the table top – and awful habit she'd picked up from none other than her girlfriend – and raised an eyebrow when she noticed that her caller was Lexa's mom.

"Hey, Alexandria," she said into the phone curiously, "is everything okay?"

"Yes of course, Clarke," Alexandria insisted. "I tried calling Lexa, but it went straight to voice mail."

"Oh, we had a busy weekend and she just realized about an hour ago that she still has homework to get done. She might've turned off her phone or silenced it," Clarke replied. "I can go tell her –"

"No, no, don't worry about that," Alexandria interrupted, "I don't want to interrupt her studies. What are you up to?"

"I was just finishing up a painting, but it's no rush. How's Polis U?"

"It's good. It's been a busy first month of classes, though. I'll tell you, though, this class of seniors is a handful. Most of the ones I know are English majors, though, so half of them seem crazy and half of them probably are," Alexandria teased. "But mostly, everything's just normal. Aside from the fact that you and Lexa are hours away and I never see her on campus anymore. That's a bit weird."

"Ah yeah. I think we've finally settled into New York fully, now that Lexa's started school."

"How are her classes? We texted briefly to catch up last week, but I haven't gotten to talk to her recently."

"Her classes are pretty good, she's doing great in all of them – no surprise." Clarke felt herself smiling proudly. Her girlfriend was a badass – in the nerd world, anyway – and she loved it. "And her internship is going well, too. Somehow she hasn't collapsed from the stress of work and school like I totally would've by now."

Alexandria laughed. "Well, everybody is different, and we both know that Lexa would drive herself into the ground to balance her life between all of the things she loves. So how is the whole gang, by the way? I loved seeing you all hang out together."

"They're all good as well," Clarke assured the woman. "Raven's dating someone, the boys are partying it up every weekend. Except for Lincoln, though he does sometimes, but I think he's thinking of proposing to Octavia soon."

"Oh, really? Hmm, I was about to comment that they're far too young, but Octavia is twenty-four isn't she? And Lincoln as well. That's about when I had Lexa – not that I was married then, of course, or ever," Alexandria commented.

"They both turned twenty-four over the summer, yeah," Clarke agreed. Her stomach twisted suddenly, and she bit down on her lip.

"Sometimes I forget that you're all a few years older than Lexa. I don't know if that's because Lexa's so mature, or because you all still act like children anyway."

Clarke smirked. "Both?"

"You're probably right. Well, I don't wanna keep you from your painting, sweetie –"

"Wait, Alexandria... um... sorry, you just mentioned... about being too young to get married... do you think that twenty-one is, um, too young to get married?" Clarke sucked her lower lip into her mouth, her voice quieting considerably and her eyes shifting nervously to the door.

Alexandria was silent for a moment. "Are you asking for permission to propose to my daughter, Clarke?" The question wasn't angry like Clarke thought it probably should be, just genuinely curious.

"I don't... I don't know," Clarke admitted. "Well... a few weeks ago, Bellamy and Raven made a bet about who would get married first – Lincoln and Octavia, or me and Lexa. And well, I never really thought about marriage before, because I was pretty blindsided when I initially got with Lexa as it was. But now that it's been brought up, it's like I can't get the idea out of my head, and I don't know if it's because it's something that I really want now, or if it's just the whole thing with things always popping up after you hear about them."

"The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon."

Clarke smiled a little at the fact that Lexa's mom knew off the top of her head what it was called. "Yeah, I just... I don't know. Lexa and I talked about it, because I sort of panicked at first, and she said that she would marry me, that it didn't matter when or whatever... but I didn't know that I'd be wanting it so soon after talking about it. Maybe it's also that I know that getting engaged isn't the same as getting married – you can wait as long as you want after getting engaged to actually have the wedding."

Alexandria chuckled softly. "Clarke, if you want to propose to Lexa, at any time, you have my blessing, though you don't really need it anyway. Lexa would marry you in a heartbeat, I know that much. As for whether or not _you're_ ready... only you can decide that, sweetie."

Inhaling deeply, Clarke nodded. It was mostly to herself, especially since Alexandria couldn't see it, but it felt like she knew what she needed to do. "Thanks, Alexandria. I really appreciate you not like, freaking out at me."

"Why would I have done that?" Alexandria asked with a bright laugh. "You're silly, Clarke. You're already like a daughter to me. I would never inhibit the furthering of yours and Lexa's relationship just because of age or something as irrelevant as that. I love you both, and I want you both to be happy."

Clarke felt her heart soar slightly. She'd never known how much she needed a mother figure until she'd gotten to know Lexa's mom years earlier. The woman had immediately accepted her as Lexa's girlfriend when they were introduced, and a year later, Alexandria had promised Clarke that she was family to her.

Clarke loved it.

"Thank you, seriously," Clarke said with a smile. "I'll let Lexa know that you called, and she'll probably be able to call you tonight or tomorrow."

"Thanks, sweetie, and there's no need to thank me. Have a good evening." The call ended, and Clarke set her phone next to her, her heart feeling big and full. Not just because of what Alexandria had said, though, but because she'd made a decision that she was, somehow, confident with.

She finally knew what she needed to do.

* * *

"Hey, Lex!" Raven exclaimed excitedly as soon as Lexa picked up the phone. It was Tuesday, and she was stopping for her quick lunch between classes. The previous day had been long and dreary, after having such a nice weekend and then dealing with classes and work.

"Hey, Raven, what's up?"

"So I'm outside Niylah's biology class, because we're meeting for lunch, and I'm going to officially ask her to be my girlfriend before lunch is over," Raven declared. "Anyway, I really wanted to do it today, because I'm like, literally not able to wait any longer, and the worst part about it is that Niylah can't hang out with me tonight because she has a late night study group for some project she has in one of her classes. _So_ , you and Clarke need to come hang out with me tonight."

"That was a lot of buildup for one request," Lexa commented, smirking a little. "Well, my last class gets out at four, and Clarke gets off at six today, so we can be over there at seven? I mean, assuming that Clarke's good to."

"That's fine, but if Clarke says she can't or doesn't want to, tell her that she's wrong and she has to because I've found myself in many conversations with _her_ about _you_ , and I need her to return the favor now."

Lexa rolled her eyes, a smile growing across her face anyway. "Alright, Raven. See you tonight."

"Bye!"

 **To Clarke – Apparently we are going over to Raven's dorm tonight at 7. I'll be home when you get home, so if you wanna squeeze in a quickie before we go ;)**

 **From Clarke – LEXA. I am at a place of BUSINESS. You cannot say things like that while I'm at work.**

 **To Clarke – It's your fault for using your phone at work.**

 **From Clarke – Ugh. No. It's your fault, because you know that I'll check my phone when you text me during the day because I'll assume it's important.**

 **To Clarke – It is important, we're going to Raven's at 7.**

 **From Clarke – Yes, which is why I checked it. BUT THE QUICKIE WAS EXTRA, BABE.**

 **To Clarke – Is that a no to the quickie? :( I was really looking forward to seeing your head between my legs.**

 **From Clarke – AREN'T YOU IN PUBLIC RIGHT NOW.**

 **To Clarke – I'm sitting on a bench on campus eating a sandwich, but surprisingly not many people around. I guess I just got good at sexting in public. You've actually done this same thing to me countless times when you were at home and I was at school when we lived in Polis. So you can't talk :^)**

 **From Clarke – :(**

 **From Clarke – You're evil.**

 **To Clarke – So yes to the quickie, or not to the quickie? I need to know whether or not I should be naked when you get home or not.**

 **From Clarke – The answer is always to be naked, babe.**

 **To Clarke – SO YES?**

 **From Clarke – Yes, I could use an afternoon delight.**

 **To Clarke – First of all, that song is awful, and second of all, I'm pretty sure that six is in the evening bb.**

 **From Clarke – Don't bb me.**

 **To Clarke – Why not?**

 **From Clarke – It's a half-assed term of endearment.**

 **To Clarke – Did you just say "term of endearment"? XD**

 **From Clarke – No.**

 **From Clarke – Definitely not ._.**

 **To Clarke – As fun as this has been, I have another class in a few minutes. I love you, and I'll see you this evening – you better be ready to take your clothes off in record time, because when I say quickie, I mean we're gonna have to make it like very quick.**

 **From Clarke – Don't worry babe ;) Love you, see you later 3**

 **To Clarke – Sap.**

 **From Clarke – Shut up. X**

* * *

Clarke parked her car in the parking area nearest to Raven's dorm, and then she and Lexa were making their way toward their friend's place. "Why exactly couldn't she come to our place?" Clarke muttered. Their quickie had been sufficiently quick, but they both preferred to have sex when they could cuddle for hours afterward. And, even though Lexa promised that they could cuddle in excess once they were home, Clarke wouldn't stop pouting now.

"I don't know," Lexa admitted, chuckling.

"Babe, these are the things you have to think about when Raven demands for you to do things. You have to at least get her to compromise. Damn. This must be why she called you instead of me," Clarke muttered.

Lexa grinned. "You're so ridiculous, Clarke, I'm pretty sure you can survive hanging out in Raven's dorm for an hour or so."

"No, I can't."

They walked into the dorm building, and Lexa just about ran into a certain red head, jumping in surprise as the other girl's eyes widened a little. "Oh! Lexa! Hi! What are you doing here, don't you live off campus?"

Lexa glanced at her girlfriend, who was looking at Ashley suspiciously. "Hey, Ashley. Yeah. We're here to see a friend."

"Oh, right, cool," Ashley said, nodding as she glanced curiously to the blonde next to Lexa. "Hi, I don't think we've met. I'm Ashley."

Clarke smiled a tight lipped, obviously fake smile. "Ah yes, Ashley. I'm Clarke."

Ashley looked somewhat pleased that Clarke seemed to know who she was, and Lexa desperately hoped that this awkward-fest could end soon. But Ashley was talking again. "So hey, are you busy this weekend, Lexa? There's a frat party down the street that's supposed to be super awesome. You should totally come." Her gaze sat on the brunette for a few seconds too long, before it shifted over to Clarke again. "It's um, university students only, though, so you wouldn't be able to come."

"Actually no, I won't be able to come anyway," Lexa said quickly, hoping that both Clarke and Ashley would get the cue that she wanted this social interaction to be over.

"Yeah, okay, maybe next time."

Clarke snickered. "Yeah, or not."

"Excuse me?"

"You're right, _excuse you_ for flirting with my girlfriend when you know that she's in a relationship," Clarke snapped in annoyance. "Now if you'll excuse _us_ , we have somewhere to be."

Lexa felt a grin spreading across her face as Clarke tugged her further into the building, and she barely managed to bite it back. They reached the elevator in the dorm building, and as soon as the doors closed, Lexa opened her mouth to speak, only to find herself pressed up against the wall. "Fuck," she breathed out in surprise. "Jealous much?"

"Not jealous," Clarke denied, pressing her front into Lexa's. "I just really don't like that bitch."

"Yeah? I totally couldn't tell."

Clarke scowled, but then leaned forward and pressed her lips into Lexa's deeply. Lexa returned the kiss without hesitation, though she knew that the elevator would reach their destination in a matter of seconds, and sure enough she ended up pushing the blonde off of her lightly. "You don't have to worry about Ashley, babe. She's annoying and persistent, but harmless. And I _don't_ like her at _all_."

"I know. And I can't really blame her for thinking that you're amazing. I just wish she'd have enough respect to not eye fuck you right in front of _me_ ," Clarke growled.

"Did I tell you about how Luna totally told her off last week?"

They were making their way to Raven's dorm room now, and Clarke grinned. "Wow. Luna might've just become my new best friend."

"You're ridiculous."


	12. Chapter 12

**From Aden – Hi Lexa. I just got my phone back from my parents.**

Lexa read the text with furrowed eyebrows. She was honestly confused as to why they hadn't given Aden his phone back sooner, but she supposed that figuring out Anthony's soon to be ex-wife was a task that she did not need to bother with.

Currently, it was Thursday night, and though Lexa was home and ready to spend the night with Clarke, her girlfriend was in a rush to finish a painting. She'd promised about an hour ago to be done before nine, and it was currently eight-thirty, so Lexa was patiently waiting on their bed. Waiting naked, specifically, laying on the bed backwards with her feet up against the headboard.

She'd been texting Luna, but stopped when Anya apparently showed up at Luna's apartment. Before she'd even had time to consider what to do while waiting for Clarke to get to the bedroom, she got the text from Aden.

 **To Aden – Good to hear. You doing okay?**

 **From Aden – They told me on Sunday about their divorce. They didn't tell me until today that it's done with this weekend, and they gave me back my phone and told me that you had something to tell me too about this weekend?**

Lexa quirked an eyebrow a little. Did his parents not want to tell him, or did they just think that hearing it from Lexa would make Aden happier? She wasn't quite sure, but she didn't linger on the question.

Luckily, Anthony had sent Lexa the details about Aden getting to New York the following day.

 **To Aden – Oh, yeah! Tomorrow afternoon after you get out of school, your dad is going to drive you up to NYC, and you get to hang out with me and Clarke all weekend!**

The response didn't come in for a few minutes, and Lexa began to get slightly concerned, until she finally got one.

 **From Aden – REALLY? My mom agreed to that? That's so awesome! I'm so excited! Can we get pizza?**

 **To Aden – Of course :) Clarke and I are so excited.**

 **From Aden – Awesome!**

 **From Aden – Ugh, my mom just found out that I didn't do my math homework yet, so I have to go do that. But I will see you tomorrow!**

 **To Aden – Of course buddy. Good luck on your homework!**

There wasn't a response, so Lexa let her phone drop next to her and stared up at the ceiling. She felt like she was in a strange limbo, and she wasn't quite sure why. After settling into New York, in this new apartment with a new job and a new university, she felt strangely stagnant. She should be doing something, shouldn't she? It was a slightly depressing feeling, until she remembered that she was indeed still in school, and it wasn't like her life wasn't still changing. The past nine months, however, had been so full of change, that now she felt as though she was slacking off at something.

It was about ten minutes later that the door finally opened, and Lexa dropped her legs from the headboard and turned over onto her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows. Clarke was looking at her with slightly widened eyes, as if surprised that she was wearing minimal clothing. "You just been laying there?"

"I was talking to Luna, and then Aden," she replied with a shrug, "but yeah mostly, waiting for you."

"Aw, babe. I'm sorry," Clarke apologized, her hands going to the hem of her shirt and tugging it off. "I was ready to come to bed and hang out with you, and then I remembered that I don't have time to work on my painting very much this weekend and I needed it done by Saturday night, so I figured I'd just finish it now so I don't have to take lots of time this weekend."

"That's okay, I wasn't complaining," Lexa teased, "just waiting."

Clarke smiled softly, wiggling out of her shorts. Lexa was unable to not stare at the teasing movement of her hips as she did. "Stare much?"

"I can't help that I like to look at you," Lexa insisted without missing a beat, her eyes unashamedly glued to Clarke's chest as the blonde unclasped her bra and let it fall away.

"Mm, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that anymore. You've been staring at me since the first time we ever met," Clarke teased, pulling off her underwear in finale and then releasing her loose bun in one movement of her hand. Her hair had grown out a bit over the year, since she hadn't gotten it cut since the previous December or so. It fell over her shoulders and over the tops of her breasts in pretty waves. "Sometimes it is kind of creepy, though."

"I can't help it," Lexa repeated. "You're too beautiful not to." Clarke was at the edge of the bed now, and Lexa had raised herself up onto her knees, her arms wrapping around her girlfriend's waist. "And definitely way too sexy." She ducked her head and pressed hot, open mouth kisses across the tops of Clarke's boobs.

"Mm, and here I thought we were going to cuddle and watch Netflix or something," Clarke murmured, and Lexa shook her head, pulling away from her girlfriend's chest to move backwards on the bed. She latched her hands onto Clarke's wrists, gently pulling her onto the bed as well.

"We might be able to have sex while our friends are staying here, even though the polite thing would probably be to not... but while Aden is here, we can't. We need something to hold us over," Lexa insisted.

"You mean you need something to hold you over?"

"Don't even pretend, Clarke."

"Don't even?"

Lexa narrowed her eyebrows. "Are you mocking me?"

"Of course not," Clarke replied with a knowing smirk, but her hands were now placed firmly on Lexa's shoulders. She pushed the brunette gently down onto the pillows, straddling her purposefully. Blue eyes sparkled in appreciation as she looked over the younger girl below her. "I don't tell you often enough how perfect you are."

"Do I tell you often enough how sappy you are?"

"Hey," Clarke whined, though Lexa's hands were settling gently on her thighs and squeezing a bit to indicate her teasing. "I'll have you know that I'm not even ashamed of how sappy I've become. I love you, and I'd do anything for you, and there's nothing wrong with me being expressive of that."

Lexa found herself blushing. Clarke surprised her a second later, though, grabbing her hands and pinning them on either side of her head, leaning down a bit.

"That being said, there's more than one way to express it." She ducked down to join their lips in a hot, fast kiss. Lexa moaned in an instant, and let her girlfriend take control of her mouth and her body for the night. After all, that's what she'd been waiting nearly an hour for, and she wasn't going to let some teasing stop it.

* * *

"Okay, on one hand, I'm pretty nervous. I've only met the kid once," Clarke ranted, looking desperately to Bellamy, who was attempting to make some sort of pasta or something on the highly unused stove that was in his apartment. Clarke knew that he, Monty and Jasper never cooked, but Clarke had come over frantically after leaving work early due to a rush of panic she'd gotten about the fact that a twelve year old was about to spend the weekend in her apartment.

"Lexa hasn't met him many more times than you have," Bellamy assured her. His attention was mostly on the stove in front of him, and Clarke didn't miss the look of confusion as he glanced between the emptied pasta box and the boiling water and noodles.

Clarke tried not to snicker. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Yeah, ah, I've got it," he insisted with a shake of his head.

"Anyway, sure, Lexa's only met him twice. But she's talked to him so many times on the phone and via text. She's going to be fine, not to mention that she's his sister and he thinks she's like the coolest ever. I'm going to be just... there all weekend."

Bellamy rolled his eyes, leaving the pot unattended for a moment in order to look Clarke in the eye. "You're being ridiculous, Clarke."

"I know."

"So why are you letting yourself get bothered by this then?" Bellamy turned back to the pasta, poking at it with a wooden spoon and seeming to decide that it must be done. He turned the stove off and began to let the water cool a bit before bringing it over to the sink to dump in a colander.

Clarke shrugged. "Maybe I'm projecting."

"From what?"

Biting down on her lower lip, she debated whether or not to say anything about her recent realization and decision to her best friend. Her thought process had originally included not telling anyone about her plans, but it might be helpful to at least mention it to someone. Bellamy was her best option to do so, anyway. He definitely wouldn't let it spill, and he could tell her if she was ever being crazy or anything.

"I think..." Clarke's voice cut off abruptly, and she forced away her nerves by swallowing thickly. "I think I'm going to propose to Lexa."

Bellamy's jaw dropped, and he turned himself completely to face Clarke now. "Wait, what? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Where the hell did that come from? One minute you're afraid of any further commitment, and now you're suddenly thrusting yourself into it head first? You know that you don't have to prove your want to marry her one day by doing it sooner, right?"

Clarke frowned. "Of course I know that. What's the problem?"

"It just seems like... maybe you made this decision to prove something to yourself or to Lexa... are you sure that you're ready?"

"I am ready, Bell. Honestly, I don't think I'll ever be anymore ready than I am right now, but proposing to Lexa doesn't mean that we have to get married like... immediately after. I think we'll both want to wait until she graduates, which isn't a full two years away, but we can talk about that after she says yes."

"When are you going to do it?"

"I think October. Near her birthday. That way I can plan something big and fancy without her questioning it," Clarke replied. Yeah, she'd thought about it briefly since making the decision, and yes, she's already run through all of these things that Bellamy was concerned about. The fact was, now that Clarke had made the decision, she didn't want to back out. She found herself playing scenarios out in her head, and surprisingly, all of them were positive. Backing out now seemed like a step backwards. The only thing that could stop her now was if she found out that Lexa would say no.

And she already knew that that would not happen.

At least, she was confident that Lexa hadn't lied to her about her feelings on the matter.

Bellamy finally smiled. "You know what, Clarke, I'm proud of you. And happy for you. As long as you aren't still scared about it being too early or anything."

"Like I said, we don't have to do it right away. By the time that we officially get married, she'll be nearly twenty-three, and I'll be twenty-six. I think that's a perfectly appropriate time," Clarke admitted. "Plus... I've sort of been thinking about it a lot. And I talked to her mom earlier this week by complete coincidence, and she gave me some nice motherly advice, as well as telling me that she thinks that Lexa and I should move at whatever pace is good for us. Basically, she gave me low key permission even though she said I don't need her permission."

"Like I said, I'm happy for you." He finally grabbed a towel and picked up the hot pot from the stove, moving it over to the sink and dumping it over the colander. Coughing awkwardly, he let a frown write itself onto his face. "Um, not happy about this outcome, though. How come literally none of us are good at cooking? We could've ended up with one person who was good at it, and have them teach everyone else, but no."

Clarke stepped over to the sink, looking into the colander and seeing that the noodles were barely cooked at all. "Oh come on, Bell, it's common sense to at least wait for them to not be hard."

"I'm sorry, okay? I don't ever do shit like this. And it's not like you'd do any better."

"Actually, Lexa and I definitely made mac and cheese way more successfully than this."

"But did it come out of a box?"

Clarke frowned. "Yes."

"So don't even talk."

* * *

Lexa frowned when she let herself into the apartment, only to notice that it was empty. The doors to both of the two rooms were open, the lights inside flicked off. She didn't hear a shower running or anything. Aden was due to arrive in about half an hour, and Lexa had no idea where her girlfriend was. She was pretty sure that they agreed to come straight home, and she should've gotten off about forty minutes earlier.

Setting her small bag – the one she brought with her to work on Fridays since she didn't have class – on the table, she grabbed her phone from her pocket.

 **To Clarke – Where are you? :(**

 **From Clarke – Didn't see the time until twenty minutes ago. On my way now. Was at Bell's. Will explain. X**

Lexa waited patiently, checking that the apartment was sufficiently tidied up and everything was ready for Aden's arrival. Since he would be sleeping on the couch, she had sheets and blankets folded on one of the cushions. Lexa also made sure to order two pizzas, since she knew that Aden and her girlfriend were bound to devour as much as they could.

Clarke let herself in about ten minutes later, her apology written over her face before she said it. "I'm so sorry, I left work early because I had a momentary panic moment, and I went to Bellamy's and he tried to make me something to eat... Needless to say, he failed miserably, but then we were talking about shit and I looked down and saw the time and didn't realize," Clarke rambled, but Lexa had grabbed her hand and tugged her own bag off of her body, setting it on the table next to hers.

"What were you panicking about?"

"Honestly? I'm kind of nervous about Aden staying here. I know it's stupid, but I feel like you and him are going to get along great because you're siblings and you've been talking, but I'll just be like... here."

Lexa smiled softly, sliding her arms around Clarke's waist and holding her closer. "Babe. Aden thinks you're like the coolest person ever, and he met you once. Okay?"

"He definitely thinks you're the coolest person ever."

"Yes, but you're probably a close second," Lexa teased.

"You're awful."

"No."

"No," Clarke agreed, leaning forward to press her lips against Lexa's in a soft kiss. It was gentle and sweet and nice, but Lexa still couldn't help but be reminded by it that she and Clarke wouldn't be able to have any sex until Sunday night.

If one thing was for sure, ever since becoming consistently sexually active when she turned eighteen, she had become much more needy when it came to sex. She couldn't help that she was a sexual being, after all, and she definitely couldn't help that she wanted Clarke all the damn time. Her girlfriend was unbelievably sexy – no one could honestly deny it.

Maybe that's why they ended up having a highly inappropriate quickie against a wall in the next twenty minutes before the buzzer went off, leaving them just enough time to straighten out their hair and clothing, as well as thoroughly wash their hands, before going to let Anthony and Aden up.

It was sure to be a fun weekend.


	13. Chapter 13

Lexa was leaning against the table, trying not to fiddle with her hands nervously, when the knock on the door came. She jumped when she heard it, despite having been waiting for it, and hurried over to it. Clarke was by her side in an instant, and they opened the door. "Lexa," Anthony breathed out in relief, and there was no wonder as to why. Aden was was wearing a furious scowl across his face, and was pointedly looking away from his father. It must have been an interesting drive for the two of them.

"Anthony," Lexa returned somewhat stiffly, before looking to Aden and adding, "Hey, Aden. You excited for this weekend?"

Aden turned to face his half sister, and his expression immediately dissolved into a somewhat content look. "Yes." He tugged on the backpack straps that were over his shoulders and then grabbed for his extra bag next to him. "I only had one bag packed at first, but my mom made me pack extra. I don't know why – it's not like I have to change fifty times while I'm here."

Clarke and Lexa both smiled at that, and then the former took a step back and said, "Well, you can set those down on the couch if you want." Aden happily entered the apartment, not looking back at his dad, and Lexa raised an eyebrow at her father, who heaved a heavy sigh.

"Hey, kiddo," Anthony called, drawing an unhappy expression from his son, "I'm gonna head out, okay? Can I get a hug?" Aden looked reluctant, but after a few seconds of hesitation, he dropped his bags on the couch and returned to the doorway to hug his dad goodbye. Anthony smiled, and when they pulled apart he finished with, "Love you, kiddo."

"Love you too dad," Aden muttered, stepping backwards into the apartment.

Anthony looked back to Clarke and Lexa. "Thank you both so much for doing this."

"Of course," the two girls said in response at the same time. Lexa smiled a little at that and continued, "We're excited to spend time with him."

"Great. So is he. I'll let you know tomorrow the details about me picking him up on Sunday, is that okay?" Lexa nodded. "Cool. Thank you both again. See you at the end of the weekend, Aden."

"Yeah," Aden replied, and then Anthony was gone back toward the elevator. Lexa closed the door, and immediately felt somewhat tense. She wasn't quite sure the specific reason that Aden was currently mad at his father, though it could easily just be the whole situation with the divorce. Luckily, before anyone could say anything, the buzzer went off again. Clarke was the one who hit the talk button. "Yes?"

"Pizza for Lexa Woods?"

"Come on up," Clarke replied, buzzing the pizza guy in.

Aden's face lit up. "Pizza?"

"I bought two," Lexa told both her brother and her girlfriend, "because I know that you both will probably eat a lot."

Clarke smirked. "It's a good thing that Bellamy's attempt to make pasta failed miserably."

"Who's Bellamy?" Aden asked. He sounded far more relaxed now that his dad was gone, and he slid off his tennis shoes and sat himself down at the little table.

"He's one of our friends who moved to New York from Virginia with us," Lexa explained.

A knock on the door signified the arrival of pizza, and Clarke quickly got the door. She paid and tipped the guy, and then brought the two boxes of pizza to the table, where Clarke and Lexa sat down as well. It was kind of funny using the table for what it was meant for. Generally, any food they ate at home was eaten on their bed or on the couch, and the table was a place to pile bags and things.

Lexa asked Aden questions about school, clearly trying to start a conversation, and the one that ended up sticking was slightly uncomfortable for every party involved. "I was supposed to leave school early today to pack, but my dad didn't pick me up until the end of the day. And then when I was packing, my mom came in and added a bunch of stuff I didn't need to bring. She said it's because I haven't ever stayed away from home without her or dad for longer than a night. But two nights is barely more than one, so I don't see why she felt the need to put so much stuff in my bags. Why are parents so difficult?"

Clarke smirked a little, stuffing pizza in her face to avoid being the one to answer that question. She supposed it wasn't that weird that Aden sounded like a teenager, since he was nearly one, but seemed so young that it was still funny. Realizing that made the blonde feel old, however, and her smirk dropped as she thought about it. "A lot of times, parents think that they always know what's best for you. Especially when you're younger. But when they start to see how grown up your getting, they'll learn to back off a little."

"But I'm not a kid anymore," Aden asserted. "I'm one of the oldest people in my grade. I'll be thirteen soon, which means I'm almost a teenager, and teenagers are almost adults."

"Some parents try to micromanage your life for longer than necessary," Clarke offered. "Trust me, I would know."

"Do you have good parents?" Aden asked.

Clarke froze, blinking, and Lexa frowned. The brunette was about to try to save her girlfriend from having to talk about her parents, but Clarke was speaking before she could. "Actually, my parents kind of suck, which is how I know. For a while, neither of them cared about me at all, and then later my mom decided to come back into my life and try to tear it apart."

"Why?"

Clarke shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, kid."

Aden sighed, taking a bite of his pizza. "Adults are weird."

"Hey, we're adults," Lexa said, feigning hurt.

Aden rolled his eyes. "You don't count. You guys aren't old. You're only eight years older than me. That's not that old."

Lexa snickered. "Well Clarke is twelve years older than you, is she old?"

"Hey!"

"You don't start being old until you're like forty," Aden insisted.

"Only halfway there then," Lexa declared happily.

Clarke narrowed her eyes. "Over halfway. You're twenty-one in three weeks."

"Yeah well, I'm still twenty until then."

* * *

Aden decided to do his weekend homework all Friday night, as per Lexa's suggestion, so that they could all go out and explore New York together the following day. Aden had been to New York before, but he claimed that that was a few years prior, so Clarke and Lexa agreed to show him around a bit. So that he wouldn't have to sit alone on the couch and do homework, they decided to congregate in Clarke's art room. The blonde painted a bit, even though her goal had been to not have to do any painting throughout the weekend, and Lexa worked on what little homework she had for the day while Aden did his as well.

When he was done, they moved to the bedroom and all climbed onto the bed to watch a movie. Aden told the two of them that his mom didn't let him watch PG13 movies, which both Lexa and Clarke thought was ridiculous, but the only reason that Lexa agreed to play one anyway was to somewhat spite Macie for being a bitch to her. Of course, they swore Aden to secrecy.

He'd fallen asleep by the end of the movie, and Clarke jumped up and set up a makeshift bed on the couch with the sheets and blankets out there while Lexa gently woke Aden up and coaxed him over to it. He barely opened his eyes to get to the couch, and as soon as he was laying down on it, he was out again, and Lexa and Clarke escaped to their room.

"Well, first night successful," Lexa said to her girlfriend, who nodded tiredly.

"Is it bad that I'm actually really tired from today? I'm actually getting old."

"No, you're not forty yet," Lexa teased.

"When I'm forty, if you tell me that I'm old, our relationship will come to an end."

Lexa laughed, a smug look coming to her face. "Yeah, as if. You'd never break up with me."

"Lexa, just because it's true and we both know it doesn't mean that you have to say it," Clarke teased, biting on her lower lip. "I'm gonna take a shower. Join me?"

"We can't –"

"Babe, we don't have to do anything. I just wanna shower with you. I'll wash your hair," Clarke offered.

Five minutes later found them both stripped naked and under the hot running water in the shower. Lexa's hair was quickly lathered in shampoo, and Clarke began to massage it into her scalp soothingly, causing the brunette to release a content sigh. Clarke felt her heart rate quicken slightly as she opened her mouth to speak. "Hey, can we do something extra special for your birthday this year? It's an important birthday."

"Only if we do something super special for your birthday next year," Lexa replied, sounding confused. "Twenty one isn't that special. All it really means is now I can legally get plastered and legally buy materials to come home and get plastered with."

Clarke smirked, rolling her eyes. "I really want to do something special for you. Please will you let me plan something?"

"Well, if you're offering to plan, I guess I can't say no. You don't plan things very often."

Clarke scoffed. "Yes I do. Just because most of my plans are made and carried through at the last minute doesn't make them any less genius or romantic or perfect."

"Can't argue with that."

"So is that a yes?"

"Sure," Lexa agreed, before humming happily at the feeling of Clarke's hands in her hair. "But I think that this shower was just a ploy to get me to agree."

A grin spread over Clarke's face. "You know me so well."

* * *

Clarke woke up early the next morning, mostly by accident, but rather than going back to sleep, she decided that it was the perfect time to officially begin her planning for Lexa's birthday. The tenth of October was a Wednesday, so Clarke wasn't going to have anything planned until Friday. She would take off work, and get Lexa to take off work, and that way they would have the whole weekend after the initial surprise.

However, Clarke knew that if she took the whole responsibility of planning this early to herself, she would procrastinate and end up having to either delay her plans, or make them far less perfect. Neither of those scenarios were options for her, so she found herself going into the bathroom to call Raven. She rarely ever locked the bathroom door, but she locked it pointedly before even unlocking her phone.

The phone rang twice before a sleepy, grumpy Raven answered. "The fuck do you want C?"

"Morning to you, too," Clarke replied quietly. "I need your help with something, but I need you wide awake before I talk about it. So smack yourself across the face or something."

"Clarke, it's a Saturday morning, and it's not even eight yet!"

"Fine, I won't tell you what I need help with and you can just find out in a month, I'll talk to you –"

"Okay, okay, I'm fucking awake Griffin. What do you need?"

Clarke took in a deep breath, and then let out all her words without pausing for another. "I'm going to propose to Lexa for her birthday and I'm planning stuff but I want it to be perfect and so I need your help and also I need you to not say anything about it to anyone at all and I need you to go ring shopping with me because I can't go alone and I don't know the first fucking thing about proposals and I just really need your help and I would've gone to Octavia but I know that Lincoln's probably going to propose to her soon so it felt weird and I just –"

"Hold the fucking phone, Clarke!" Raven exclaimed. "You're going to propose to her?"

"Yes."

"Where the fuck did that come from? You were practically shaking in your own skin over the idea like two weeks ago!"

"Raven, I've been thinking about this a lot. Literally every time that I'm alone, or in some position to let thoughts just roam through my head, it's all I can think of. Do it, or don't do it. And the fact is, there is nobody I'd rather marry than Lexa, and proposing to her just proves that to both of us. I've been scared about making this kind of commitment, but there is no way that I could ever break it. It's literally impossible. I can't think about my future without picturing Lexa in it. I've already committed to her one hundred percent, and all this does is says it in writing, and I mean, legal shit," Clarke insisted, before realizing that her voice was risen again. Quieting, she finished, "Trust me, Rae, I've thought about this a lot. Please just tell me you'll help?"

"Of course I'll help!" Raven squealed excitedly. "And I'm going to win this fucking bet, that's for goddamn sure!"

"Unless Lincoln proposes to Octavia and then they get married before us because neither of them are still in college?"

"Shut up, Clarke, don't ruin my fun. When do you wanna shop for a ring? Today?"

"Aden is staying with us until Sunday night. Maybe we can go out on Monday while Lexa is working or something. I can get off early maybe. I don't want it to seem conspicuous, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it. Okay well, we'll figure out a time then. Right now, I need to pee and take a shower – now that you've woken me up with this kind of information, there's no way I'll be able to go back to sleep."

Clarke smirked. "Happy to help."

"Text me later or something, go back into your bedroom and cuddle with your girlfriend before the child wakes you up and forces you to get out of bed."

"Uh..."

"That's what children do, Clarke. You're going to have to know this if you're going to be getting married."

"First of all, he's twelve, so it's not like he's a little kid. Second of all, if you bring up me having kids again before I'm married, I will come to your dorm room and cut off your big toe."

"Why my toe?"

"I don't know, I just had to pick something because with guys my go to threat is to cut off their balls, and you happen to not have those."

Raven chuckled. "Come on, Griff, your threat game is dropping. You better get on that."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm going to go cuddle with Lexa, as per your request. Go shower. You smell bad."

"You can't smell me, bitch."


	14. Chapter 14

Clarke, Lexa and Aden were in the Manhattan Mall, a place that the two girls had only been once during their time in New York. Clarke, who wasn't necessarily very interested in shopping, only really liked the place because of how big and impressive it was. Lexa enjoyed shopping a bit more than she did, and Aden was, apparently, also a big shopper. Clarke was sure that it was weird that a twelve year old boy enjoyed shopping more than she did, but she didn't mind that Lexa and Aden were talking animatedly as they looked through stores. Clarke kept up as a part of the conversation, but she didn't feel out of place like she thought she might in a situation like this. She was happy that Lexa was getting time to hang out with her half brother.

At some point, Clarke realized that she was in desperate need of caffeine, and she nudged her girlfriend. "You want Starbucks?"

Lexa's face lit up a little bit as she nodded.

"What about you, kid?" Clarke asked, looking to Aden who grinned at her.

"Yes, please!" Aden quickly gave Clarke his usual order, and she nodded, pecking her girlfriend on the lips and then departing from the two of them. It took her a moment to locate the Starbucks, but once she knew where it was, she let herself zone out a little as she walked.

It seemed like there was one thing that she would never be able to get off her mind ever again – proposing to Lexa. It absorbed her thoughts constantly. When Lexa smiled, Clarke pictured what her face might look like when she heard her question. When they held hands, Clarke imagined feeling a ring on her ring finger. Mostly, though, she constantly found herself thanking whatever superior force of nature was going to allow her to spend her entire life with this beautiful person she had somehow found.

While she waited in line at Starbucks, Clarke's phone began to beep from a group text message.

 **Group Message: Raven, Octavia, Bellamy, Lincoln, Jasper, Monty, Lexa and You**

 **Raven – Sup losers, are we hanging out next weekend?**

 **Octavia – Sure, works for me. You bringing your new gf? ;)**

 **Raven – Maybe. What's it to you?**

 **Lincoln – Babe, leave her alone.**

 **Bellamy – She doesn't deserve to be left alone, all she ever does is tease other people about their relationships!**

 **Clarke – He has a point.**

 **Clarke – Not that Bellamy would know – he's been single for ages.**

 **Bellamy – Shut up.**

 **Jasper – Hang on, but Bellamy was out all night last night... You mean he wasn't with any of you?**

 **Clarke – Not us.**

 **Octavia – Nope.**

 **Raven – Not unless he was spying on me and my hot girlfriend having awesome sex all night. :-)**

 **Monty – TMI Rae.**

 **Octavia – OMG SO BELL TOTALLY HOOKED UP WITH SOMEONE OMG!**

 **Bellamy – Leave me alone. I'm older than all of you, and by some strange force of nature, you all ended up getting in serious relationships before me. I get it, but leave me alone. I don't even know if it's going anywhere yet.**

 **Monty – Dude, Jasper and I are still single AF, remember?**

 **Raven – I do not miss being in that crowd :)**

 **Lincoln – Where's Lexa, Clarke?**

 **Clarke – We're at Manhattan Mall with Aden. I'm on a coffee run, she's probably just shopping with Aden and ignoring all these messages since they're irrelevant AF. :^)**

 **Raven – Oh come on, you love us.**

 **Lexa – Maybe, but she's right. PS – Clarke hurry with the coffee :(**

 **Clarke – Be patient, there are lots of people in this place. I can't make the line go faster.**

 **Lexa – Aden says you can :o) You've got a 12 year old to impress babe.**

 **Octavia – Alright, alright, shh. We hanging out next weekend or nah?**

 **Bellamy – Let's do it.**

 **Jasper – Monty and I will be there.**

 **Monty – Yes, Jasper, just volunteer my time why don't you!**

 **Monty – But yeah I'll be there.**

 **Clarke – We might show up. Frankly after this weekend we might need to double up on our sex time to make up for lost time – which might mean no partying with you guys for us. :-)**

 **Octavia – That's gross.**

 **Lexa – CLARKE!**

 **Clarke – Oh sorry Lexa, I thought you were the master of keeping a straight face during situations like this? #PaybackIsABitch**

 **Raven – You're not cool for using hash tags in a text Clarke.**

"I can help who's next," the cashier from Starbucks said suddenly, pulling Clarke out of her phone. She slid it into her pocket and approached the counter. "What can I get for you?"

The guy was smiling at her pleasantly, but Clarke immediately felt self conscious, as though he was staring a bit too hard. "Yeah, I'll get one grande black coffee, a grande Cafe Vanilla Frappuccino, and a tall Double Chocolate-y Chip, please."

Starbucks was the one thing that Clarke had really had to get used to after moving out of Polis. Everyone had gotten coffee from The Bean in Polis, and since she worked there, she had never really thought about getting coffee anywhere else. However, Starbucks had become a much bigger part of her life since moving to New York, and it seemed like black coffee was almost a foreign concept to the baristas there. No one else ever ordered it plain like that.

She somewhat expected the barista to question her about it, but he just typed in her order without a second thought. "All that for you?" His voice was teasing, entirely flirtatious, and Clarke didn't quite like it.

"No, also for my girlfriend and her brother," she stated firmly, giving the guy a tight lipped smile. She retrieved her card from her wallet and handed it to him. His smile had fallen the minute she mentioned her girlfriend.

"I bet the vanilla is for you then?" he asked suddenly, seeming to regain his confidence a bit as he slid her card.

"Nope."

Now he just seemed annoyed, but he grabbed the cups needed for her order and then a sharpie. "What's the name?"

"Clarke."

"We'll call you when your order is ready." He handed her back her card, which she tucked back into her wallet.

"Thanks."

She situated herself near the counter where drinks were set out upon completion, and returned to the text conversation with her friends. There were a few more messages in it, but she didn't have a chance to even see who had sent them before her phone was suddenly ringing. She didn't recognize the number, but she picked it up anyway.

"Hello?"

"Is this Clarke Griffin?"

"Yes, this is she."

"My name is Mark Smithson, and I'm one of the art investors who met you a few weeks ago. You gave me your card."

Clarke's eyes widened. "Yes! Hi, so nice to hear from you! How can I help you?"

"Actually, I was hoping to help you," Mark said brightly. "You see, I went to your online store from your card, and absolutely fell in love with your art. As you know, I invest money in artists that I believe will rise to be the best of the best, and I think that you are that. Right now you're working in a gallery, but in a year or so, I hope to see people working in a gallery full of your art."

"Oh my god," Clarke breathed out. "Thank you so much..."

"Is there a time this week that we'd be able to meet for lunch and talk details? I'd like to invest money in your art, Clarke, and get it up on walls of galleries."

"Yes, of course. I can meet anytime this week for lunch."

"How about Wednesday?"

"That's perfect."

"Great, I'll email you about the details and we can meet on Wednesday to discuss everything," Mark said with finality. "Thank you."

"Thank you." The call ended, and Clarke's jaw was practically on the ground. How exactly had that happened? She remembered giving her card to multiple investors, but she had never imagined that any of them would keep it, let alone go to her page and see her art. She definitely hadn't expected any of them to see it and love it enough to invest money into it.

Swallowing thickly, Clarke clutched her phone tightly in her hand and tries to recompose herself. Just as she was starting to remember what she was doing, she heard her name called out, and she blinked, moving over to the counter. She grabbed the drink holder that was carrying the three cups in it, and left the store.

Clarke barely managed to level her breathing by the time she found Lexa and Aden again, fairly close to where she'd left them. Lexa seemed to notice that she was a bit distracted from that point on, but Clarke wanted to wait to tell her girlfriend. She didn't want to take the focus of today off of Aden, so she would wait until tonight to say anything.

Inside, though, she was absolutely jumping for joy.

* * *

The shower was running, and the microwave was humming as it heated up some pizza from the night before, but the loudest sound in the apartment was whatever app game Aden was currently showing Clarke, the music of which was extremely annoying. "Shouldn't you have like... died by now?"

Aden gave her an incredulous look, before looking immediately back to his phone. "Um, no. This is only half of my high score, Clarke. Have you never played it?"

"No."

"You don't play any app games?"

Clarke smiled a little. "Not really. I have to work and stuff. You'll know more about that when you grow up." Aden didn't answer, focusing hard on his phone screen, and Clarke smiled devilishly, reaching up her hand and pressing her fingers randomly over his screen. Aden squealed.

"Clarke!" His little animated character fell to his death tragically, and Aden gave Clarke a murderous look. "Now who's the one who needs to grow up?"

"Whoa, you were actually listening to me," Clarke teased with a grin.

"I'll get payback for this," Aden promised, and Clarke suppressed her grin a bit.

"I'll be on my guard."

Aden rolled his eyes, and then looked over at the bedroom door. "Lexa's taking a long time in the shower."

Clarke pursed her lips a little, trying to keep herself from smirking. She had a feeling that she knew what was going down in that shower right now, and she hardly blamed her girlfriend. It wasn't like they could do anything while Aden was in the apartment, because neither of them could stay quiet with each other. Alone, though? Clarke was sure that Lexa could suppress her moans enough to give herself some relief, and while it did make Clarke feel a bit annoyed that she couldn't be relieving her girlfriend, she understood. "New York is a dirty place," Clarke offered halfheartedly, smiling a little.

Aden hummed, glancing back at the door and then to Clarke. "So, you've been with my sister for a long time?"

"Three years now," Clarke realized. She and Lexa never really knew when exactly their officially anniversary was, as far as when they started dating exclusively, because though they knew the day that Clarke asked, it didn't feel like that was the beginning. Usually, they just picked a day during September or October to celebrate. Clarke didn't know if they needed that this year, though, because it was getting close to Lexa's birthday, and the blonde had her special plan for that week formulating her mind already. And probably in Raven's.

"My parents only knew each other for like, two years before they got married," Aden commented. "Are you and Lexa going to get married?"

Clarke smiled. "Someday, yes."

"Can I come to the wedding when you do?" Aden asked, his eyes widening in excitement.

"Of course, kid. Maybe you can even be in it."

"But you guys can't have a best man or groomsmen, because you're both girls."

Clarke hummed thoughtfully. "I'm sure we can work something out. Just don't mention that to Lexa, okay?"

"She doesn't know that you and her are going to get married someday?"

"Sure she knows," Clarke said slowly, "just... maybe don't talk to her about it yet, okay? She doesn't really know that I know."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Just pretend that it does, Aden."

Aden raised his eyebrows at her, but then the shower finally shut off, and Clarke sat up a bit straighter. The microwave had long since stopped going, and she got up to go get the pizza out of it. She dished it out on paper plates and delivered on to Aden, keeping one for herself and leaving the third on the table for her girlfriend.

* * *

"Mm, you smell nice," Clarke murmured, pressing her lips against Lexa's bare shoulder. They were both minimally clothed in case of any emergency, but Clarke couldn't help wanting to touch her girlfriend as though they weren't.

"I bought new body wash today," Lexa reminded the blonde. "I figure that I don't try a lot of new stuff very often, so might as well."

"Did you have fun with Aden today?"

"Yeah, lots. He and I actually have a lot in common, you know?"

Clarke nodded. "Every time he rolls his eyes it might as well be you."

"Did you have fun today? It felt like we just dragged you around."

"I'm just glad that you got to spend so much time with your brother," Clarke murmured. "I had other things on my mind anyway."

"Anything you wanna talk about?"

Clarke's lips tugged up into a little smile and she scooted away from the brunette a bit. Lexa looked up to meet her eyes, concerned until she noticed the happy look on Clarke's face. "While I was at Starbucks, I got a phone call from an investor who wants to meet with me this week to talk about him investing in my art."

Green eyes widened and lit up. "Oh my gosh, that's amazing!" Lexa exclaimed. "Why didn't you say anything about it earlier?"

"I didn't wanna distract from you hanging out with Aden."

"Clarke, this is so amazing for you. Your art is so good and you should've been famous for it ages ago," Lexa asserted. "You should've told me after it happened!"

"It's okay, I wanted you to enjoy your day with Aden. Plus, we don't even know what kind of deal the investor and I will come to on Wednesday."

"It's still fucking awesome that he called you."

"Yeah, you're not wrong."

Lexa scooted forward, pressing her lips softly against Clarke's. The blonde melted against her girlfriend, allowing herself to be pulled against her. Suddenly, Lexa was on top of the blonde, moving them so quickly that the breath was torn from Clarke's lungs. Her eyes widened, dark now, as she looked up at the younger girl. "You deserve this so much, Clarke. And I fucking told you so many times that this would happen."

Clarke felt her cheeks warm. "I guess you did."

"Ugh. If Aden wasn't in the next room, we would totally be celebrating right now." Clarke reached up and cupped Lexa's cheek, pulling her down for another sweet kiss. When it broke apart, blue eyes met green ones.

"Tomorrow. I can wait, babe," Clarke teased, winking. "We've got plenty of time."


	15. Chapter 15

Anthony came to pick Aden up a few hours into the afternoon, after Lexa and Clarke had taken him to see the NYU campus. It had been a pretty hard goodbye, mostly because all parties concerned knew that the two siblings may not get to see each other for a while, but also because Aden did not want to leave. It wasn't like he was a little kid, though, so he ended up leaving without too much of a fuss, though neither Lexa nor Clarke would've wanted to be in the car with him and Anthony for the drive back to New Jersey.

Once Aden was gone, Lexa was a bit bummed, so they ordered in Chinese and laid across their bed side by side. "You okay?" Clarke finally asked, when she was near finishing her food.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, fine. Just kind of... disappointed, knowing that I won't get to see him very often, you know? It's weird to think that I have a kid brother who I missed out on growing up with, and who I don't even have time to catch up with."

"Yeah, I don't blame you." Lexa released a long sigh, before reaching over to the nightstand to set down her empty boxes of food. Clarke did the same, sitting up a bit. "You wanna go on a run with me?"

Lexa quirked up an eyebrow. "A run?"

"Why not? We have time, and exercise is supposed to cheer you up... or something?" Clarke gave her girlfriend a hopeful look, and Lexa's mouth split into a grin.

"Sure."

Turns out that Lexa walking to and from work from campus, as well as trying to use the subway more often than driving, had actually gotten her a bit more in shape. She and Clarke both went fairly slow, more of a slow jog than a run, but Clarke seemed to struggle a bit more. They ended up being out for only half an hour, and returned in desperate need for a shower.

Since neither them were willing to wait for the other to shower first, they both stripped their sweaty clothes off and tumbled into the shower together, turning on warm water and letting it wash their bodies clean. "You know," Lexa breathed out, "I think I'm understanding why you were saying that we should exercise more."

"Or we could like, not," Clarke muttered dejectedly, pushing Lexa out from under the water and threading her fingers through her hair.

"Hey," Lexa mumbled, squeezing in under the stream of water as well. "At least share."

Clarke smirked, nudging Lexa away again. "No." Suddenly, Clarke's breath was stolen from her as Lexa's hands came to her waist and pushed her up against one of the shower walls. Their fronts were pressed together, and Clarke swallowed thickly as her eyes darkened.

"You know," Lexa said thoughtfully, "we never got to celebrate you getting a call from that investor."

Lexa's leg was pressing into the middle of Clarke's thighs, forcing them apart and leaving the blonde with the urge to grind against her girlfriend. "Oh, right."

"Unless exercising wore you out too much, in which case, I guess we can celebrate some other time..."

Clarke was slightly embarrassed at how fast that got her to speak. "Oh no, I am definitely not worn out." Lexa smirked pressing her thigh up against Clarke's center and eliciting a groan from the older girl. "Lexa..."

"I forgot that you didn't even relieve yourself last night," Lexa murmured, before dropping her lips down to Clarke's neck. Her thigh pressed into the blonde's core again, and Clarke was momentarily distracted from the fact that Lexa was most definitely leaving a hickey on her neck.

"Lexa!" Clarke squeaked. "Hickey control!"

Lexa pulled away from her neck with an innocent smile on her face. "I left no such thing."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you didn't." The blonde's hands came up to Lexa's head, pushing her hair behind her ears and then pulling her face in for a kiss. Their lips joined perfectly, their tongues battling viciously between them. They began to stumble away from the wall, Clarke trying to take control, and ended up directly below the flow of water in the shower, drenching them again completely. Neither of them even really noticed, because Lexa was resisting Clarke's efforts to take dominance, and pushed her once again up to the wall. "Lexa," Clarke whined.

"We are celebrating you."

"Yeah, and I want to fuck you," Clarke growled.

Lexa batted her eyelashes sweetly. "You can do that, after I celebrate you."

"You're impossible."

Lexa just joined their lips again, and Clarke gave in, allowing Lexa to take full control of her lips, tongue and body. She felt soft hands tracing her curves gently, finding their way to her ass and squeezing. Clarke's arms wrapped around her girlfriend, pulling their bodies impossibly closer and finally grinding down against Lexa's thigh. Suddenly, Lexa lips were pulling away from her own, and Clarke heard herself whimper as she tried to grab onto them again.

Lexa chuckled, pressing a soft kiss to Clarke's cheek and then dropping down onto her knees. Her hands were now gripping the backs of Clarke's thighs tightly, spreading her legs. Clarke leaned her head against the shower wall, expecting what was coming next, and sure enough she felt a hot tongue suddenly collide with her center. "Fuck, babe," she puffed out in a moan, her hands tangling into Lexa's wet hair.

Their water bill was going to be a very clear reflection of just how much celebrating they did in the shower.

Their sheets, wet from their clean hair and another reasons, would be the indication of how much celebrating they did after their incredibly long shower.

When they were completely spent, they lay across their bed, backwards, so that their feet were on their pillows, staring up at the ceiling. "If there was such thing as too much sex, I'm pretty sure we would've just reached the limit, if not surpassed it."

Clarke smirked. "Well, good thing there isn't a limit then."

They were quiet for a moment, and then Lexa remembered something and let out a little gasp. "I just realized that we haven't made plans to celebrate us being together for three years."

"Oh yeah," Clarke agreed, wondering in what weekend they could fit something in. The following weekend, they had already agreed to hang out with their friends. And the weekend of Lexa's birthday was obviously booked, which left two weekends open. "How about we do something the weekend after next?"

"Sure," Lexa agreed. "I'll plan it, though. You're already planning some extra special surprise for my birthday, if you're actually going to plan it out, so I'll take charge of our three year anniversary."

"Deal!"

Lexa flashed the blonde a smile, and then sat up, searching for her phone. She saw it sticking out of the pocket of her discarded sweatshirt from earlier, and hopped up to grab it. When she was back at the couch, Clarke was sitting up, pulling their blankets up over the sheets again and sitting up against the pillows, which were slightly wet from their still damp hair.

Then Clarke went to retrieve her own phone, and Lexa opened hers only to be faced with a flood of text messages.

 **Group Message: Luna, Anya, Finn, Raven, Octavia, Bellamy, Lincoln, Jasper, Monty, Clarke and You**

 **Luna – HOW IS EVERYONE? Visit for one weekend and when you go home everyone thinks that you don't need to keep up constant communication anymore. ;-;**

 **Finn – Meanwhile Bell, Jasper and Monty are the only ones here who regularly text me anymore -.-**

 **Raven – In my defense, college. Okay? It's a lot of work. PLUS actual work.**

 **Anya – When we were there, you seemed to have plenty of time for all your friends and that other girl...**

 **Finn – What girl?**

 **Octavia – Raven's got a girlfriend!**

 **Luna – It's official now? Wow, thanks for telling us, I feel so included.**

 **Bellamy – Isn't Lexa the one in charge of keeping you updated? Go blame her.**

 **Luna – She hasn't texted me all week :( Or Anya :(**

 **Anya – That's not true. You were texting her on Thursday.**

 **Luna – … Oh right. Shit.**

 **Jasper – Didn't Lexa and Clarke had Lexa's half brother over this weekend? That might be why she hasn't texted you since then lol.**

 **Luna – Right. Okay, well... still... HOW IS EVERYONE?**

 **Lincoln – Pretty good :)**

 **Octavia – My new job is fab AF. And I get to come home every night to my sexy boyfriend ;)**

 **Anya – *gags* Oh, sorry, I just had to picture my brother as sexy.**

 **Octavia – TBH I always forget that you guys are siblings :-)**

 **Lincoln – How on Earth do you do that?**

 **Octavia – You guys don't talk very often!**

 **Anya – We talk on the phone like every other day.**

 **Raven – Don't mind her, she's very forgetful (-:**

 **Finn – Like when I found out Bellamy's padlock code to his mini fridge, told her, and she forgot the next day and called me panicking.**

 **Octavia – I'm bad with codes!**

 **Bellamy – How about when you forgot about half of my birthdays?**

 **Octavia – I'm also bad with dates!**

 **Octavia – I've never forgotten Clarke's birthday! Clarke! Come defend me!**

 **Bellamy – OK BUT I AM YOUR BROTHER! YOU SHOULD REMEMBER MY BIRTHDAY!**

 **Monty – I think someone is feeling butthurt today :^)**

 **Luna – Omg I miss you crazy people.**

 **Raven – But forreal where is Clarke at?**

 **Anya – LEXA? Where's Clarke?**

 **Finn – Are they still with Aden?**

 **Raven – Nah, he shoulda left by now.**

 **Raven – CLARKE! LEXA!**

Lexa heard Clarke groan as she returned with her phone. "Our friends are ridiculous," the blonde muttered.

Lexa just grinned.

 **Lexa – Sorry, we were just celebrating the fact that Clarke is elevating to her proper social status AKA famous AKA 2 cool 4 u.**

 **Octavia – Celebrating whaaaat?**

 **Clarke – I'm meeting with an art investor on Wednesday! :D**

 **Bellamy – OMG congrats!**

 **Raven – What a boss ass bitch omg.**

 **Luna – You were celebrating too hard to talk to us? :'( I'm so hurt.**

 **Lexa – Well you see, our phones were lying on the floor somewhere and we were being far too loud to hear an of your guys' messages. :)**

 **Finn – TMI!**

 **Clarke – She asked. X**

 **Raven – Damn, you guys are really serious about making up for sex after being deprived for two fucking days.**

 **Lexa – We were celebrating. Valid excuse.**

 **Anya – Wow, I remember the days when Lexa was innocent and had only had sex with one person ever and it was a stupid junior in high school and now we're here. What even happened.**

 **Octavia – Clarke happened :o)**

 **Lexa – Thank fuck for that.**

 **Raven – Thank fuck?**

 **Lexa – Sorry, I guess I have a one track mind :D**

 **Luna – Gross.**

* * *

Clarke met with the art investor on Wednesday as planned, and she left with a check made out to her, to be used to get her art up onto walls of galleries.

She was fucking stoked.

Plus, since she was already out of lunch, Clarke had decided to take the second half of the work day off on Wednesday, and dragged Raven off campus to go to a series of jewelry stores.

"You know, with the amount of time you seem to take off at the gallery, you don't deserve investments," Raven observed, snarky.

"I don't take that much time off," Clarke insisted. "Anyway, they gave me a full year of vacation days for the half year I've been working here, so I have time to spare, alright? This is really important, Raven."

"Yeah yeah, I know, but I really don't know since when you became so concerned with this," Raven stated. "I feel like there was definitely a time in the past where you said something like 'what's the big deal about a ring?'"

"You're probably right," Clarke agreed, "but I'm a lot different now, though that's obvious. Come on, Rae, I want to propose to Lexa, and I want it to be perfect. Ring included."

"I hope you're ready to empty your bank account then."

"Perfect doesn't have to mean expensive."

"You'd be surprised, C."

Clarke was surprised, but not entirely put off by how expensive the nicest engagement rings seemed to be. Still, Clarke finally found something at the third place that they went to – one that just screamed Lexa. As soon as she saw the thin, white gold band, with two small diamonds set in either side of the bigger, yet still modest, diamond. "This one," Clarke stated, pointing to it through the glass and looking to her friend, who joined her at the counter a moment later.

"I can actually definitely picture her wearing that," Raven admitted. The diamond somehow had tints of greenish-blue in it as well, and Clarke knew immediately that it was the right ring for Lexa.

Once she went through the motions of putting down a certain percentage of the ring, and setting up her payment plan for the rest, Clarke received a blue, velvet box, with the ring placed neatly inside it. She then dragged Raven out of the store excitedly. "I got it!"

"Yes, and it only took three hours," Raven teased. "Lexa's gonna be out of class soon."

"I'll make up an excuse if I get home after her," Clarke reasoned. "I'm just really excited, Rae, you don't understand. This ides and everything has been growing on me so much since I first started thinking about it. And even though I already know that she'll say yes, I'm still nervous as well. I don't even know how to feel really. I'm just so fucking excited."

Raven smiled softly. "You've grown up a lot, Griffin. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, mom," Clarke teased, unable to not roll her eyes at Raven's sappiness.

"Hey, I'm serious loser. And you and Lexa are perfect for each other. I'm really happy that you're doing this."

Clarke found herself stopping in her tracks, wrapping Raven up in a surprise hug and clutching the ring box in her hand tightly. "Thank you."

"Any time, princess."

Clarke rolled her eyes again, stepping away. "Really?"

"Old habits die hard?"

* * *

"Shots! Shots! Shots!" Octavia chanted loudly at the bar, slapping her palms onto the counter top as she grinned between her boyfriend and Raven, whose arm was slung around Niylah's waist.

"Maybe just a few," the other brunette finally gave in. She then looked over to Lexa and Clarke. "But only if Clarke and Lexa do too."

"Um, we're looking to be fully aware when we end up in bed together tonight," Lexa said, "and for you, a few shots means like six."

"No, just two!" Raven insisted, now grinning like Octavia. "Come on, say that we're celebrating Clarke getting money and shit for her art! If you guys could celebrate with hours upon hours of fucking each other last weekend, I think you can handle a few shots."

"Fine," Lexa gave in, and Clarke shrugged with a nod.

"Thank goodness. I lost my best drinking buddy ever when we moved here," Raven muttered, rolling her eyes. She then glanced at Niylah and gave her a dopey grin, "Not that I didn't gain a lot more by moving here."

Clarke brought her hand up in front of her mouth and faked a cough as she said, "Sappy as fuck."

"Hey!" Raven exclaimed. "You and Lexa are so much sappier than I am!"

"We've been together for three years," Lexa defended.

Lincoln smirked. "But you've been that way since three years ago."

Feigning hurt, Clarke pouted at Lincoln. "Whose side are you on, Linc?"

"How about we nix the sides, and take some damn shots already?" Octavia suggested, as a line of shots were placed out in front of them. Clarke wasn't sure whose tab they were on, but she was prepared to drop whoever it was some cash before they all parted for the night. Each of them grabbed a shot glass and took it down within seconds, but before they could pick up another, Jasper, Monty and Bellamy were pushing their way through the crowd to get to them.

"Look who finally decided to show up!" Raven exclaimed.

"Hey, traffic."

"Did you drive?" Niylah asked incredulously.

"No, taxi," Monty explained with a weak shrug. "Jasper is still low key scared of the subway."

"That is not true!"

Octavia snickered. "Whatever guys, take these shots, we'll get another round!"

Once Lexa and Clarke had both taken their second shot, as agreed upon, they quickly sneaked away from their friends and ended up somewhere in the back of the club. It was dark, but the music was just as loud as anywhere else on the dance floor, and Lexa pressed her body against the blonde's.

Their bodies had long since perfected being in sync with music and each other at the same time, and that was probably why Lexa loved dancing with Clarke so much. Her mind was lost in the music and the eyes of her girlfriend as they moved to the music, until they were bumped slightly by another person, and Lexa looked away from the blonde. A few feet away, she suddenly caught the gaze of a redhead whom she did not particularly want to see.

"Oh shit," she muttered, as she noticed Ashley noticing her. Clarke looked over her shoulder, her gaze falling on the younger girl from Lexa's psych class.

Turning back to Lexa, Clarke glanced between her eyes for half a second before pulling their lips together firmly, hotly. Lexa moaned instantly, allowing Clarke to take full control of her mouth. Hands dragged down her sides, gripping her hips and then her ass appreciatively. When the kiss ended a minute later, Ashley was nowhere to be seen.

Lexa gave Clarke a teasing, accusatory look, to which Clarke just smirked. Giving in, Lexa let a smile peek her lips. "Not jealous?"

"Never. But I have no problem making other people jealous."

Lexa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay."

"You know, last weekend the guy working the register at Starbucks was trying to hit on me,"Clarke declared, wondering what kind of reaction she might get from the brunette.

"I guess I can hardly blame him," Lexa stated. "You're sexy, beautiful, sweet... who wouldn't honestly?"

Blood rushed into Clarke's cheeks. "You were not supposed to do that."

"What, you wanted me to get jealous?" Clarke pouted. "Babe, I think we've both established that you are mine, and I am yours. It's dumb to get jealous over things like that. If you reciprocated something like that, then it would be jealousy worthy."

Clarke bit down on her lip, holding Lexa's body impossibly closer to hers. "Say that again."

"What?"

"That you are mine."

Lexa flushed a little. "I am yours." Clarke beamed, before pressing her lips against Lexa's in a softer kiss than before. Lexa relaxed completely in the embrace, and when they separated, she left her forehead against Clarke's and whispered, "You're ridiculous."

"I know."

"And I love you so fucking much."


	16. Chapter 16

The next weekend was the last one of September, and Lexa's birthday was in less than two weeks. The brunette wasn't really thinking about that, however, when she woke up on Saturday morning. Today was the day that she and Clarke were celebrating being together for four years. When she thought about it, she was honestly blown away at how long she and Clarke at been together. At the same time, though, it could've been so much longer from the way it felt.

Lexa had meant to get up a bit earlier, but she had been exhausted from a week of working and school, and Clarke had been exhausted from painting in every blink of free time that she managed to nab. It was nearly eleven when Lexa's eyes finally flickered open. Next to her, Clarke was still completely asleep.

Lexa carefully slid out from under the blanket, not wanting to wake up her girlfriend. She tiptoed to the bathroom. After using it, she brushed her teeth and was readying herself to wake up the blonde beauty in bed, but her phone began to vibrate annoyingly with a phone call. Lexa had half a mind to hang up without looking at the caller, but when she saw that it was her mom, she didn't hesitate to pick up.

"Hey mom," she said softly, not wanting Clarke to wake up prematurely. "Good morning."

"Did you just wake up, Lexa?"

"Clarke and I are celebrating three years today, so we slept in and I'm taking her out tonight," Lexa explained.

"I guess you both deserve a break. You've been busy, huh? You talked to Aden much since he visited?"

Lexa exhaled, leaning against the bathroom wall. "Yeah, a few times. He's still having a hard time with his parents being separated, and he's alternating weeks living with them. I think he'll be fine in the end, but still."

"Poor kid," Alexandria said sadly. "At least he has a sister like you to talk to. Anyway, I was actually calling for a different reason."

"What's up?"

"Were you and Clarke planning on coming down for Thanksgiving? I just thought about the fact that this will be the first holiday where you're not here, so if you weren't going to come down here, I thought I might come up there and get a hotel, and we can go out on that Thursday."

A smile tugged at Lexa's lips. "I'll talk to Clarke and see if she'd wanna go back down to Polis. I mean, it might be fun, since we both left friends down there, but we might end up being busy."

"Well I have no problem coming up to New York, so just discuss with Clarke at some point what your plans are, and I'll work around them. I don't want to hold off your day with Clarke, though, so I'll let you go for now."

"Okay, love you mom. I'll call you tomorrow or Monday."

"Love you too, have a good day!" The call ended, and Lexa opted to leave her phone on the bathroom counter. She did not want to be distracted this morning.

Pushing the bathroom door open with a quiet creek, Lexa peeked out and was relieved to see that Clarke was still asleep. Pulling off her clothing, Lexa made her way to the bed and slid back into it, the sheets silky against her bare skin. She ducked down a bit and pushed Clarke's shirt up a few inches, pressing her lips to Clarke's abdomen in fluttery kisses. Clarke fidgeted a little, so Lexa poked her tongue out against the soft skin.

"Lexa?" came the tired murmur. "What're you doing?" Lexa didn't answer, her hands dragging up Clarke's legs. When they meet the ends of Clarke's booty shorts, she gripped them and tugged down. She then turned her green eyes up to gaze at Clarke, who was biting down on her lip as she looked at Lexa. "What do you think you're doing down there?"

Soft hands stretched down and ran through Lexa's hair, before coaxing her face up to Clarke's, the blonde bringing their lips together in a gentle kiss. Before Lexa even realized it, she was flattened against the mattress on her back, the breath torn from her throat as she gazed up at Clarke. Her gaze was steady, impossible to tear away, as Clarke gripped the bottom of her t-shirt and tore it off, leaving her in just underwear. Lexa was about to say something, but Clarke was suddenly ducking down, one hand rising to Lexa's left breast as her lips attached to the other. "Fuck," Lexa groaned, her legs wrapping around Clarke as the blonde lowered herself somewhat in between them.

She trailed kisses down over Lexa's naked body, stopping in between her thighs and not hesitating to go for the prize awaiting her.

It was twenty minutes later, after Clarke had given Lexa to back to back orgasms, that the two of them laid next to each other, the latter slightly spent. "Good morning," Clarke murmured softly, pressing soft lips to Lexa's neck.

"I was supposed to wake you up that way," Lexa muttered dejectedly, though she didn't pull away when Clarke's arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her close. She tried to resist when the blonde began to pepper her cheek and neck with fluttery kisses, but ultimately she gave in, because Clarke was ridiculously adorable. "Clarke," she whined playfully, no longer attempting to escape her girlfriend's grasp.

"Happy three years, "Clarke murmured. "And here's to many more of you being my pillow princess."

Lexa's jaw dropped. "I am not a pillow princess!" Now she actually succeeded in tearing out of Clarke's arms, giving the blonde an incredulous look. Clarke just grinned at her devilishly, rolling on top of her again. Lexa tried to push her off, but Clarke gripped her hands and pinned them to either side of her head.

Lexa couldn't fight a smile now, but she did her best to glare anyway. "I know you're not. But you are my princess." Clarke leaned down to attach her lips to Lexa's neck. Humming contently, Lexa tilted her head to the side.

"Isn't that your nickname?"

"What's mine is yours," Clarke teased, suddenly allowing her weight to fall completely on Lexa, who squeaked slightly. Their limbs tangled together and Clarke buried her face into her girlfriend's neck and hair.

"Ridiculous."

* * *

"Wait, where are we going?" Clarke asked. She had been slightly averse to taking the subway anywhere, but Lexa had promised that the commute to their date location was not that far. They stopped at a little hole in the wall place for lunch, which was actually really good, and were finally now making it to the final location. Having made it thus far without asking Lexa to spill, Clarke felt like she deserved an answer now.

They walked out of the subway station and Clarke glanced around as Lexa grabbed her hand and nodded to the building they were now approaching. "There."

Clarke lit up. The Museum of Modern Art had been one of the places she'd meant to have visited already since moving to New York, but she hadn't yet gotten the chance. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed excitedly. Lexa grinned, and Clarke immediately began pulling her toward the museum.

Once they were inside, and Clarke was trying to work out where she wanted to start and where they should end, she suddenly realized something. Looking to Lexa with a frown, she said, "Wait, this is our anniversary. We should be doing something that interests both of us."

Lexa squeezed Clarke's hand. "Just because I don't stand in front of art to analyze it for hours doesn't mean that I can't be interested in looking at it. Plus, I'm very interested in making you happy. And if that still doesn't make you feel better, just remember how interested I was in our morning activities, and how interested I'll be for our night activities."

"So inappropriate," Clarke teased as a gentle smile appeared on her face. She pulled Lexa a little closer to her, so that their arms were touching, and they began off through the museum.

Lexa was definitely entertained throughout their journey within the museum, if not by the art then definitely by Clarke's enthusiasm. Honestly, Lexa had pictured what a typical, cheesy museum date between her and Clarke would be like before, but in Polis there had obviously been no place to have one. In actuality, the date was far better than it could've been in her mind. She felt kind of stupid for feeling so giddy at the fact that Clarke didn't release her hand at all, but she pushed that away, because she was entitled to feel however she wanted. After all, Clarke was her love, and she would never stop giving the brunette butterflies.

It was nearing the museum's closing time that they finally left the place, and Lexa managed to convince Clarke to get on the subway again and head to another place for dinner. This place was close enough to their apartment that they would be able to walk back afterward.

The two of them didn't have a lot of time to just go out alone together very often, so the night was like a breath of fresh air. They didn't have to focus on anyone or anything other than each other.

When they were walking home, through the brisk, darkening evening air, both of their phones vibrated simultaneously. Lexa was the one to grab her phone out of her pocket and hold it for them both to see.

 **Group Message: Octavia, Raven, Luna, Anya, Bellamy, Jasper, Monty, Clarke and You**

 **Octavia – LINCOLN JUST PROPOSED TO ME!**

 **Bellamy – WHAT. HE DIDN'T TELL ME HE WAS GOING TO DO THAT.**

 **Raven – Not everything is about you, Bell.**

 **Bellamy – You're just butt-hurt.**

 **Jasper – Butt-hurt about what?**

It took Lexa about five seconds to recall what they were talking about. "I guess we lost that bet."

Clarke grabbed her phone. "We don't know that," Clarke teased. "I mean, you never know. Maybe O and Lincoln will end up waiting like six years before they get married."

Lexa quickly began to type out a message as she tried not to react at the fact that Clarke had basically just said that they might be married within six years.

 **Lexa – Congrats!**

 **Clarke – Lincoln told me :-)**

 **Bellamy – Fuck off Clarke.**

 **Raven – The question is... WHO WILL BE NEXT?**

Looking up from her phone now, Lexa gave Clarke a concerned look. "They would never wait that long."

"We could sabotage them."

"How?"

"Make them lose their jobs, and make all their parents lose their jobs, and then who would pay for the wedding?"

Lexa's jaw dropped. "First of all, that's awful. Second of all, you don't have to have a huge extravagant and expensive wedding to get married."

Clarke shrugged. "I'm just saying. You never know."

 **Luna – Watch it be Bellamy of all people.**

 **Bellamy – Why is everyone bullying me today?**

 **Anya – Congratulations, Octavia!**

 **Raven – Oh yeah, congrats O!**

 **Jasper – Of course she comes on here and then just disappears.**

 **Clarke – What do you expect her to do? She and Lincoln are undoubtedly going back to their place to fuck. You want her to give you a play by play of that?**

 **Monty – Jasper just dropped his phone because the image of Lincoln and Octavia having sex appeared in his mind, thanks for that Clarke.**

 **Octavia – Fuck you, we're hot AF when we have sex.**

 **Lexa – Okay this is getting weird.**

 **Octavia – Thanks for the congrats you guys 3 I'm so excited!**

Lexa nudged her girlfriend lightly. "Wanna bet for when they get married by?"

"Octavia won't be able to wait longer than a year, but with planning in consideration, I bet they get married next winter. And their parents will probably pay for all of it, so they'll probably have a destination wedding that we'll all be struggling to pay for."

Lexa furrowed her eyebrows. "Why a destination wedding?"

"Because Octavia's parents are loaded, Lincoln's parents are loaded. Why not a destination wedding?"

"Lincoln's parents aren't loaded..."

"They kind of are."

"Maybe a little..."

Clarke shrugged. "Maybe they can pay for our wedding someday."

Lexa felt her heart rate pick up. "I doubt it. I already endured enough awkwardness when they found out that I'm gay. It would probably just be effort for them to come to the wedding."

"Well, maybe we can call up my mom with her endless supply of cash." The statement was obviously a joke, and the teasing grin that she flashed Lexa actually surprised the brunette. Clarke joked about her parents sometimes, but for some reason, she didn't sound at all sad or weighed down. It was as if Clarke had reached some new level of accepting and moving on from the fact that her mom was awful.

"We definitely wouldn't have any monetary issues at that point."

Clarke chuckled, linking her arm with Lexa's and leaning her head on her shoulder. "Thank you for today."

"Of course. I figured that if I had time to plan, I should at least come up with something as awesome as all the times you've planned last minute and still made perfect as fuck dates," Lexa teased. "I'm almost dreading my birthday date with you, because maybe you planning it means that it won't be as amazing."

"Oh shut up, it'll be great."

"I know. I mean, any time spent with you is always perfect."

"Fucking sap."

"You love it."


	17. Chapter 17

"Happy birthday, sweetie!" Alexandria chimed through the phone, and Lexa's head jerked slightly at the sudden exclamation upon answering the phone call. "And good morning!"

"Thanks mom! Good morning to you, too. You're up early." Lexa was currently walked briskly across campus. She had been woken up that morning with sweet kisses from her girlfriend, before the blonde apologized profusely and disappeared for work. Lexa didn't really mind, since their weekend was going to be spent doing... whatever Clarke had planned for the two of them.

"I do have classes to teach," Alexandria reminded her daughter. "First one is in half an hour, but I wanted to make sure not to call you too early in case you weren't up yet."

"I have class in like ten minutes, so I'm definitely up."

"You have any nice birthday plans?"

"Well, Clarke has been planning something for the past month or so for this weekend, so I guess I do. Nothing today, though. Just class, and probably a Netflix binge session with Clarke tonight."

Alexandria hummed thoughtfully. "Netflix and chill?"

Lexa's eyebrows shot up. "I don't even want to know why you know what that is, mom."

"I teach seniors in college, not the elderly, Lexa. I am well versed in your generation's crazy new slang," Alexandria insisted. "I'm sure Clarke will have something amazing planned for this weekend, though. Especially if she's been planning it for so long."

Her mother's voice was laced with some strange tone that Lexa didn't really recognize, and she wondered briefly if something was wrong. "Yeah well, Clarke usually plans perfect dates in like three hours, so either all this time she's spent will make it more perfect than anything else at all, or it'll be all ironic and suck." She was joking of course – she knew that Clarke's planned date was not going to suck.

"You'll have to let me know how it goes," Alexandria suggested. "But anyway. I sent your present in the mail on Monday, so it should be there by Friday at the latest. Hopefully tomorrow, though. And if it's good with you and Clarke, I'm going to finalize my plans to come up to New York City and see you guys for Thanksgiving."

"Yeah, sounds great!" Lexa agreed with a grin. "I can't wait to see you again. I actually really miss you. Who would've thought?"

The older woman tutted. "Lexa, you are ridiculous."

"I have to go to class," Lexa said with a quiet laugh. "Thanks for the call, love you!"

"Love you, learn something!"

* * *

 **From Clarke – I miss you :(**

 **To Clarke – You saw me this morning. :P**

 **From Clarke – BUT IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY! I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN OFF AND YOU SHOULD HAVE SKIPPED CLASS!**

 **To Clarke – Only a few more hours till we can see each other again, you weird needy person. ;)**

 **From Clarke – Wow, and to think that you were worried about you being clingy when we started dating. I'm a clingy sap who can't go a whole day without seeing you. X**

 **To Clarke – It's rather endearing :)**

 **From Clarke – Yeah yeah, whatever. How is your lunch?**

 **To Clarke – Eh, fine.**

 **From Clarke – Alright, no small talk then XD What do you wanna do tonight? Birthday girl's choice ;)**

 **To Clarke – Why do I feel like you're suggesting something specific with that winking face?**

 **From Clarke – Probably because I taught you the power of winking face placement :o) Take it how you will, babe ;)**

 **To Clarke – How about we get Chipotle for dinner?**

 **From Clarke – I shall pick it up on my way home!**

 **To Clarke – And... I thought about watching Netflix but when I was talking to my mother she so kindly reminded me of "Netflix and chill" and I think that's a much better idea!**

 **From Clarke – How does your mom know what that means? Or does she?**

 **To Clarke – Apparently teaching college seniors exposes her to the slang of our generation or something.**

 **From Clarke – Interesting. Well. I'm not opposed to Netflix and chill. =) Where do you want me for it? ;)**

 **To Clarke – On one hand I want to say under me, because I know you'll get too much of an ego boost if I say the other option. But the truth is that I want you to pin me down on our bed and your face between my thighs.**

 **From Clarke – Your wish is command beautiful ;) I won't even boast ;)**

 **To Clarke – Thanks bb. X**

 **From Clarke – Hey, at least give me "baby" instead of a half-assed bb :(**

 **To Clarke – Sure baby 3**

 **From Clarke – Ah fuck, my lunch break is over. :( I'll see you at home with Chipotle and the dedication to make you scream all night. X**

 **To Clarke – Looking forward to it. X**

Lexa was blushing as she locked her phone, finally remembering that her lunch was sitting on her lap as she relaxed into the park bench. She had become accustomed to eating here when Raven or Monty wasn't around to have lunch with her. Despite her initial intent, she hadn't made an excessive number of new friends since starting school, but it wasn't really bothering her. Life was good nevertheless.

Suddenly, just as she was resuming her lunch, her phone rang obnoxiously. She wouldn't have picked it up, opting to eat instead, but she saw that it was Luna. Hitting the answer button and jamming the device in between her ear and her shoulder, she swallowed the bite of food she'd just bitten off.

Before she could even speak, a chorus of two, average singing voices singing Happy Birthday. Lexa's lips tugged up into a smile, and then when the song finally ended, she laughed with a shake of her head. "Hello to you guys, too. Thanks."

"You feel any older?" Anya asked. "Twenty-one – big number. You beat us to the ultimate milestone of adulthood."

"No, I don't feel any older," Lexa replied, "but I do rather enjoy being officially older than you guys."

"Man, you won't even let us have any ahead, huh? You have the perfect relationship, the perfect living situation, you've got like, college. Your life is great, Lex, the least you could do is let us age up before you," Luna teased.

Lexa smirked. "Oh, my bad."

"We sent you a present," Luna continued. "Since we're officially together, we can get away with sending you one present for the two of us. It should get there tomorrow. However, I do have to implement a new friend rule – you have to call me at least every other day, alright? We have not been talking enough lately."

"Sure," Lexa agreed. Glancing down at her food, she realized that the

interruption had officially allowed her appetite to fade away, and she folded up her sandwich and slid it into her bag for later. "How have your guys' day been?"

"Anya's been in class all day," Luna replied for the both of them, causing Anya to scoff.

"Yes, but Luna was working at the same time, and we both just got off for lunch."

"Still."

"You guys are weird," Lexa commented. She stood up from the bench and started off toward her next class.

"You doing anything this weekend?"

"Clarke has something planned," Lexa replied. "I'm actually really looking forward to it. School and work lately have just been so busy, and obviously I get to see Clarke every night and most mornings, but I'm looking forward to just spending lots of uninterrupted time with Clarke, you know?"

"Yes, we know that you two live for that."

"Don't act like you two haven't become super mushy since getting together," Lexa insisted. "You guys have been clingy as fuck for two years by now, I'm sure it's only gotten worse in the last couple of weeks."

"You have no proof," Anya insisted indignantly. "Ugh, I have to head back to class. Happy birthday, Lexa. Call us soon."

"Of course. Thank you guys!" The call ended, and Lexa smiled softly. So far, her birthday was going quite nicely, and now as she prepared for her next class, she just couldn't wait to go home and hang out with Clarke.

* * *

Clarke set the paper Chipotle bags down on the table as she let out a deep breath. Her day had been long, because not only had she been working at the gallery like normal, but she'd spent an hour or so on the phone with some people trying to organize a time for the following week for her to transport some of her paintings to a gallery – yes, she was finally going to get to put her art up on the walls of some place other than her apartment.

She was beyond excited, that was for sure, but the people had wanted her to bring it in this weekend, and that was obviously not an option. They'd finally agreed to do Monday, so Clarke was going to have to leave work early in order to get the paintings over before the other gallery closed. It was worth it, though.

Now, she shrugged off her coat, tossing it on the couch, and stretched her arms over her head. Lexa would be home within the next half hour, and Clarke was planning on wearing far less clothing by that point. She fully intended to use their burritos as a way to re-energize after a round or two. She hardly felt ashamed for having been thinking about sex with Lexa for the majority of the day, because it was her girlfriend's birthday, and this weekend she would be asking the brunette to marry her... She was too excited to not.

She tore off her clothing as she entered the bedroom, tossing them into their hamper, and went to the closet to locate her best lingerie. It wasn't something she wore particularly often, but she had some deep blue colored, lacy lingerie that she had purchased sometime over the summer and not yet used.

After slipping the thin material on, Clarke located and drank the entirety of one of the random energy drinks in their fridge. Finally ready, she moved the Chipotle into the kitchen and seated herself on the table instead, grabbing her phone to entertain her until Lexa arrived.

When the door handle turned a bit later, Clarke immediately set her phone aside and spread her legs, letting her hands rest lightly on her thighs.

Green eyes met hers for only a second, before tracing down her entire body slowly. "Whoa," Lexa breathed out. "Okay, I didn't really expect this."

Clarke pushed herself off of the table. "How was your day?" she asked softly, grabbing Lexa's bag and setting it down on the table.

"Not bad. Definitely better now." Lexa's hands grabbed Clarke's waist and pulled their bodies together without hesitation.

"Mm," Clarke hummed. "Happy birthday. I brought home Chipotle, but I would kind of rather eat you before that."

Lexa's face flushed immediately as she bit down on her lower lip. "So what are we still doing standing here then?" Clarke grinned, bringing their lips together while simultaneously taking a few steps backwards. Lexa clung to her as their lips and tongues clashed, and soon they were in their bedroom. Once there, Clarke's hands familiarly dragged across Lexa's body, grabbing and tearing away clothing.

Lexa's hands were glued to Clarke's exposed skin, digging her short fingernails into it as Clarke pressed their fronts together tightly. When the brunette's clothing was completely gone, her underwear being the last item thrown hastily away, Clarke didn't hesitate to push her up against the wall. Lexa gasped quietly at the feeling of her warm body pressing against the cold wall, but the thought was wiped entirely from her mind when Clarke dropped onto her knees in front of her.

Loving, wet kisses were placed along her pelvic bone, across her hips and then down to her thighs. Clarke was gentle, her hands caressing Lexa's ass and thighs as though they were to be worshiped. Lexa, however, just felt her burning desire being built up more and more, and her own hands came to her breasts as she waited for Clarke to finally relieve her.

Clarke noticed this, and finally pushed apart Lexa's thighs. Her left hand gripping the right one, Clarke leaned in and brought her mouth to Lexa's lower lips. Instantly, coherent thoughts were ripped from Lexa's mind, and her fingers came down to tangle into Clarke's hair. "Fuck," she breathed out, the wall becoming her main support as her leg was moved practically on Clarke's shoulder to increase the ease of access to her center. When fingers pushed their way inside of her, a loud moan shook its way from her throat. "Fuck, Clarke."

Clarke moaned into her sex, and Lexa gasped at the vibrations. She felt herself clenching up already. It was almost embarrassing at how fast Clarke could sometimes get her body to react. She honestly wasn't sure how long it took after that point for her to come ,because it could've been hours or minutes or seconds, but when it was done, Clarke began to trail light kisses across her thighs and finally up to her lips.

Clarke giggled as she pressed a soft kiss to her neck.

"You okay there?"

"You kinda took all my breath away," Lexa managed to breath out as Clarke leaned against her body.

"You're so beautiful," Clarke whispered as her fingers danced across slightly sticky skin.

Lexa blushed. "You are too, especially in that lingerie... I kinda really wanna take it off, though."

"Do it."

* * *

"Why don't we have Chipotle with wine all the time?"

"Not sure," Clarke replied, giggling. They had gone through a whole bottle of wine by now, and were on the second. Clarke had bought two, guessing that this would happen, but opted not to get more than the two since they both had places to be in the morning.

Lexa's head was resting on Clarke's midriff, and the blonde was sitting up slightly in order to keep her wine from spilling. Their burritos were just about gone, and they were halfway through the second bottle of wine. "Ugh, I can't wait to go out and get my ID checked and get to hand in my real one. Finally twenty-one, fuck."

"Meanwhile, here I am getting old as fuck."

"You are not old. You're not even twenty-five yet."

"Give it a few months, babe."

"Twenty-five isn't old either, though."

Clarke sighed happily as her hands began to play with Lexa's hair. "I love you." Lexa tilted her head a bit in order to look up at the blonde's face.

"I love you, too. I can't wait to see what you planned for this weekend."

"You're gonna love it, babe."

"I'm gonna hold you to that."

Clarke smirked. "If you don't love it, I'll let you top me for a week."

"Wow, you are very confident."

"I am."

"Well, like I said, can't wait."


	18. Chapter 18

Blue eyes stared into the smooth ceiling, as the chest belonging to their owner fell and rose sporadically due to the nerves building in her stomach. It was Friday morning. Today was the day. Clarke was unbelievably nervous that something would go wrong. It wasn't like the day she had planned was excessively dependent on time, or tiny details, but that didn't mean that nothing could go wrong.

Swallowing thickly, she pushed herself into a sitting position. Lexa was sound asleep next to her, curled up adorably, in a thin tank top and booty shorts. Clarke felt her heart melt slightly at the sight, especially knowing that, if everything went as intended, the woman laying next to her would be her fiancee by the end of the day.

Reaching over to her nightstand, Clarke grabbed her phone and saw that it was nine in the morning. She was glad that she and Lexa had both decided to take off Friday, because waking up early today would probably have left Clarke even more frazzled for tonight. Glancing back at her girlfriend to be sure that she was still sound asleep, the blonde opened a text message to Raven.

 **To Raven – Just woke up. Here goes nothing. Will text you tonight – and by tonight I meant tomorrow morning assuming all goes well. Cross your fingers nothing goes wrong.**

 **From Raven – You're ridiculous, it's going to go great and awesome and you and Lexa are going to get engaged and life will be awesome. Go get her, girl ;)**

 **To Raven – Thanks Rae. :)**

Setting the device down again, Clarke laid back down and rolled onto her side, cuddling into the brunette and pressing her lips onto Lexa's neck, peppering kisses there until she finally began to stir. "Clarke?" Lexa's tired voice murmured. "What time is it?"

"Doesn't matter," Clarke replied softly. "We have off, remember? Today is our day."

"Oh yeah," Lexa mumbled, her arms extending and wrapping around the blonde. "Did you spend weeks planning a day for the two of us to lay in bed for twenty-four hours straight?"

"Ha, you're so funny," Clarke deadpanned, though she couldn't help but smile when she heard Lexa chuckle. "No, we're getting up soon."

"So what are we doing today?"

"You'll see..."

"Aw, c'mon, tell me," Lexa pleaded, adjusting her position so that she could look at Clarke's face. "Please? It's for my birthday, after all... Speaking of. You didn't give me a present on Wednesday, so you kinda owe it to me to tell me what your plan is today."

Clarke smirked. "Babe, you'll get your present tonight, and I'm more than sure you'll like it."

"If you say so," Lexa teased. "So what are we doing today then?"

"We're going to have a picnic," Clarke replied with a sweet smile.

Lexa raised her eyebrows slightly. "Where?"

"The High Line." Lexa tilted her head slightly.

"Isn't that a pretty touristy area?"

"Yes? So? We haven't even lived here a year yet, we're basically still tourists. Anyway, it's still going to be like, sort of pretty there until it starts snowing like crazy, so I figured we should go before then. I mean, I'm sure it'll be plenty pretty with snow, but like, the plants."

Lexa smiled. "Okay. So we're having a picnic..."

"Then we're going to go on a nice across the park, because we're obviously very active people, and do... stuff... and then go out to dinner, and then I'll give you your present and then we'll come home," Clarke declared surely.

"Call me crazy, but this plan doesn't sound like it took a month to think up," Lexa teased.

Clarke scoffed. "Trust me, babe, you have no idea what's coming for you. My present took quite a long time to properly prepare."

"Did you paint me again?" Lexa asked with a grin.

"I guess you'll find out tonight, won't you?"

Lexa pouted. "Tell me now?"

"I already told you our entire day plan, Lexa. Don't you want any mystery for your birthday?" Lexa shook her head and kept up her pout. "Your adorableness won't work on me this time, babe."

"Fuck."

"Also, I think Octavia decided that we are going out tomorrow night so that you can use your real ID to get into a club."

Lexa grinned. "Not opposed."

"Good, because I don't think she was giving us an option." Clarke smirked, and green eyes stayed trained on her. Tilting her head a bit, she asked, "What are you staring at?"

"Nothing, just trying to figure out how I got lucky enough to have you."

Clarke let out a soft "aw," and then, not missing a beat, she continued with, "You know, flattery won't get me to tell you what I got you for your birthday."

"Damn it."

* * *

"You know, I don't know why you like the city so much. So far, your two most thoroughly planned dates have had to do with a picnic. You sure you didn't mean to stay in Polis and move into a tent in the forest?"

"Ha, your jokes are so funny," Clarke muttered, taking a bite of her sandwich and leaning away from her girlfriend pointedly.

Lexa grinned. "Seriously, though."

"Picnics are nice," Clarke insisted. "Plus, we're inside literally all of the time."

"I eat lunch outside everyday."

"Fine, I'm inside literally all of the time," Clarke corrected. "You're very salty today."

Lexa smiled tightly. "You haven't told me what you got me for my birthday yet, and it's been like a full thirty-six hours since my birthday ended."

"You are so whiny."

"Am not."

"And a pain in the ass."

Lexa gasped with feigned hurt. "I'm highly offended by that accusation." Clarke rolled her eyes, taking another bite of her sandwich and reaching out for Lexa left hand with her right one. She began to distractedly play with her girlfriend's fingers, trying to push away the slight anxiety she had mulling around in her stomach about tonight.

"But you know it's true."

"Hey, you're the one who's elected to being with this pain in the ass for three years now."

"I guess you're worth the struggle."

A neatly shaped eyebrow arched up in question. "You guess?" Clarke batted her eyelashes at the brunette, squeezing her hand lovingly. "I guess I'm glad that you think I'm maybe worth 'the struggle.'"

"Aw, come on babe, you know I can't resist you," Clarke returned, playfully pouncing forward and pressing feathery kisses in the dip of Lexa's neck, causing the brunette to squeak and almost fall over out of her sitting position. They were seated on the ground, in the most empty area of The High Line that they could find.

"Oh my god, Clarke, get off me!"

"Never," Clarke murmured, biting gently down onto her girlfriend's neck.

Lexa laughed, her hands sliding under Clarke's shirt slightly and gently pushing. "Get off, you weirdo." Clarke obeyed, her lips turning into a pout. "Oh relax, who's whining now? I'm pretty sure that throughout this relationship, you and I have basically swapped ages. You are such a child."

"Sorry to break it to you, cutie, but if I'm a child, that means no sex for you. Did we not establish that years ago?"

"So ridiculous."

Clarke grinned, crumpling up the trash from their lunch and stuffing it into the paper to-go bag they'd gotten from the random sandwich place they'd stopped at. "Come on, we've got a fun walk ahead of us."

* * *

Clarke was pretty sure that she hadn't calmed down since starting their walk across The High Line. They'd passed by dozens of tourists, ignoring all of them and getting wrapped up in their own little world, talking, laughing, holding hands all the way through. But the later in the day that it got, the more nervous Clarke began to feel. When they finally got off The High Line near the restaurant they'd been having dinner, she tried to calm herself down as the two of them explored some of the shops in the area.

She did manage to get somewhat distracted during this ordeal, because Lexa was apparently very cute when she shopped, and Clarke made a mental note to get them both out of the apartment more often. Besides work and classes, the only places they ever really ventured out to were their friends places and clubs. And it wasn't like there had been a plethora of places to shop at in Polis.

Clarke supposed that the only real downside to being out of the apartment together was that they couldn't have sex at any given moment.

All of the walking and shopping eventually had them drained and in desperate need for more energy. Luckily, Clarke had planned her reservations for dinner perfectly, and they were only a little bit early when they got to the restaurant. It wasn't necessarily the fanciest restaurant, because they'd been walking around all day and neither of them were really big on the whole fancy thing, but the place was nice and had good food. They spent a bit longer than necessary there, because Clarke insisted that they both get champagne and dessert before leaving. By the time that they did leave the place, hand in hand, it was getting dark outside.

They decided to walk a few blocks to one of the subway stations that was a bit further, so that their night could last a bit longer before getting home. Lexa seemed to have forgotten about her present, but Clarke definitely had not.

Her hand was shoved in her purse now, fiddling with the little box that had been weighing it down all day. Lexa didn't notice, instead seeming distracted by the city around them that they so rarely took in all at once. The closer they got to the subway station, the more urgent the moment felt. It would end all too soon, and Clarke would have missed the window. She had told herself that this would be when she did it – on their walk home.

Finally, when they were just a block from the stairs descending down to the train that could take them home, Clarke tugged on Lexa's hand lightly to stop her. Green eyes gave her a curious look. "Something wrong?"

Clarke smiled and shook her head. "Don't you want your birthday present, you weirdo?" Lexa's face lit up and she nodded, her eyes wide and slightly glassy looking from the alcohol. Clarke's soon-to-be fiancee was definitely a lightweight. "Alright well, you better brace yourself." She tugged Lexa to the side of the sidewalk, out of anyone else's way.

"I'm kind of afraid now..."

"Relax, every birthday present must be accompanied by some sort of sweet spiel, right?" Clarke's heart pounded hard in her chest, echoing through her entire body and especially her ears, so the blonde wasn't even sure if she could hear herself. Swallowing thickly, she tried, for the umpteenth time, to push away her nerves. "So when we were celebrating our three years of being together last month, it was kind of surreal, because honestly... it's like I've sort of been with you forever, and yet hardly at all, in the grand scheme of things. I used to think that... well, love was bullshit and relationships were toxic and the majority of humans were the spawn of whatever devil there is in the universe. I guess there was ample support for that thought at the time, because my parents were dickheads and my relationship history was sketchy at best. And then I met you and you literally turned my world upside down."

Lexa smirked. "Literally?"

"Okay yes, I've adopted your weird new age grammar structure and word choice, moving on –"

"You're not even four years older than me."

"Lexa," Clarke tutted, causing the brunette to force her giggles into a smile as she readied herself to listen further. "Look, the point is that you changed my entire world. Like, it used to revolve around art and sometimes my friends, but mostly art and well... I still love art, but you're pretty much my priority above all else. That's why when you were trying to figure out whether moving here was the right thing, I stressed out so much about it. And that's why whenever Raven and Bellamy made that stupid bet about who was going to get married first between us and Octavia and Lincoln, I flipped shit. Like seriously, you might have seen me freaking out about that once, but you should've seen me talking to Raven and Bellamy both about it. It felt like the end of the world, because I didn't know what to do... it's like all I see is you, and I don't really think about what that means sometimes, or what comes with it."

"Clarke, we've talked about this..."

"I know, Lexa, just... it's weird. Marriage has never appealed to me, possibly because my parents' marriage crumpled so badly, and all of my relationships have gone to shit, and it just never seemed like something I could crave."

Lexa wet her lips, appearing nervous all of the sudden. "Seemed? Past tense?"

"Lexa, I've never met anyone who could literally make me light up without even trying, or who could make me feel like less of a fucked up, starving artist left to fend for herself by so many people. And now that I've been with you for so long, whatever scraped up memories I once had about the worst part of my life have basically faded – I can't recall more than the fact that I was drunk all the time, and high, and I foolishly had sex with Finn a lot, which is gross and I high key regret it now," Clarke said with a laugh, which Lexa mimicked, though it sounded strangled, as though she were trying to contain emotions. Clarke knew that her girlfriend knew what was coming by now.

A brief pause.

"I've always been a lot better with art than words, so I'll just blame how disconnected this has been on that, and get to the fucking point already," Clarke said with a small laugh. She wet her lips, as though that would keep her from stumbling over the next words out of her mouth. Her left hand slid back into her purse, and Lexa followed its movements with her eyes, watery and wide. When the little, blue, velvet box appeared, the brunette just about choked. "So um, even though I kind of went through an existential crisis about a month ago thinking about marriage, I decided that I like, really want to marry you. So... would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Clarke's legs were shaking too badly for her to kneel – she was sure that if she moved at all, she would topple over. Instead, she just stayed rooted to the current spot on which she stood and opened the box, taking the ring out and looking hopefully to Lexa. Tears were spilling out of green eyes. "Oh my – what! Of course! Yes, Clarke!" Lexa skipped the ring entirely, suddenly grabbing Clarke into a tight hug.

All of the nerves fell away from the blonde in that moment, and she clutched her fiancee's ring in her hand as she hugged her back. After a few seconds, she giggled and said, "Babe, I love you and I'm very glad you said yes, but you kind of have to like, put the ring on your finger."

Lexa pulled away, wiping messily at her face. "I know that." She wet her lips and extended her left hand, where Clarke slid the ring onto her ring finger proudly. "Oh my god. It's so beautiful."

"Good enough of a birthday present for you, princess?" Clarke teased, wrapping her arms around Lexa's waist possessively. The brunette gawked at her.

"What the fuck, of course! Also, once again, that is your nickname."

"It's better on you."

"I disagree."

"You going to keep disagreeing with me then, or are you going to come get on the subway with me and go home so that we can have sex for the first time as an engaged couple?"

"Fine. We can disagree about this nickname business at another time." Clarke grinned, pressing a kiss to the brunette's lips passionately. "I love you so much," Lexa murmured into the kiss, before allowing the blonde to take over her mouth entirely. They would remember the subway in a minute or two.


	19. Chapter 19

Lexa's naked body was glowing in the warm light coming in from the bedroom window as she gazed at her girlfriend – no, her fiancee. Clarke was as naked as she was, sprawled across the sheets and absorbed in a deep sleep. They had had many rounds the night before, so she understood why Clarke was still not yet awake. However, it was nearing ten in the morning, and Lexa knew that the blonde would want to wake up soon.

Unable to bring herself to stirring the beautiful goddess next to her, Lexa instead located her phone, discarded along with all of her other useless possessions the night before – they were all useless in comparison to her fiancee – and opened the a group message with all of their friends.

 **Group Message: Octavia, Raven, Bellamy, Lincoln, Finn, Jasper, Monty, Anya, Luna, Clarke and You**

 **Lexa – Octavia, I bet my ring is nicer than yours. X**

The replies came flooding in only a handful of seconds later.

 **Octavia – Holy shit, what?!**

 **Raven – CLARKE DID IT! WOOOOOO! C, I told you you wouldn't flop :-)**

 **Bellamy – Congrats!**

 **Octavia – HOLD ON! RAVEN KNEW, AND I DIDN'T?**

 **Jasper – Omg! Congrats, guys!**

 **Finn – Wtf is with you guys and proposing all the sudden?!**

 **Anya – OH MY GOD! CLARKE DID NOT EVEN ASK MY PERMISSION? HIGH KEY OFFENDED.**

 **Luna – Congrats Lexa.**

 **Lincoln – You sound excited, Luna.**

 **Luna – Sorry, CONGRATS LEXA! (I'm just slightly upset rn bc this announcement caused me to be unable to FINISH… apparently Anya doesn't think a congrats text can wait five more minutes)**

 **Anya – D:**

 **Raven – TMI gaybies.**

 **Luna – Hey, if anyone is the gaybie here, it's you, Rae.**

 **Octavia – HOLD ON. I'm still. I just. CLARKE PROPOSED TO YOU? CLARKE? OF ALL PEOPLE?**

Suddenly, Clarke was stirring next to the brunette. "The fuck is that vibrating?" She was rubbing her eyes adorably, and Lexa bit down on her lip, turning her screen toward her fiancee, who read over the replies with a smile growing on her face. "Ah, gotta love our great friends."

 **Lexa – She did.**

 **Bellamy – Guess now is when we see who actually gets married first then.**

 **Lincoln – Will be me and O, sorry Lex. Octavia's got this whole ordeal basically planned by now.**

Clarke yawned, reaching for her phone and then cuddling into Lexa's side, wrapping her right arm around the brunette and using her left hand to text in the group.

 **Clarke – Well since we didn't get engaged over some bet, I don't think we'll be getting married due to one either. X**

 **Luna – Anya is very angry that you didn't ask her permission to propose to Lexa, so if you wouldn't mind just like, apologizing so that she can finish what she started to my poor body, that would be appreciated.**

 **Clarke – If it makes you feel better, Anya, I asked Lexa's mom, and she told me that I didn't need to ask because let's be honest, we all knew that Lexa was going to say yes and that's all that mattered. :-)**

Lexa nudged Clarke a little, drawing her blue gaze out of her phone. "You asked my mom?"

"Well, more like I experienced part of my existential crisis while talking to her on the phone one time when you were doing homework, and she helped me work through my nonsensical feelings and then I was like, 'hey, so, I'm thinking about proposing to Lexa.'"

Lexa dropped her phone, turning her body so that her front was pressed to Clarke's and their faces were level. Clarke took the liberty of tangling their bare legs together. "So she knew, and Raven knew... is that it?"

"Bellamy sorta knew, just not the details," Clarke added. "Raven went ring shopping with me a while ago, because I thought it was going to be really hard... turns out that I know you pretty well, so it wasn't too hard to find this." Her fingers gently caressed the ring around her fiancee's fingers. "Oh, but I just realized something."

"What?"

"Whenever we both have rings, yours won't ever be an issue during sex because you're right handed, but I'm going to have to take mine off all the time," Clarke whined with a pout.

A loud laugh bubbled up out of the younger woman, who then gave the blonde a flabbergasted look. "Oh my god, I was not expecting that."

"What? It's true!"

"I didn't say it wasn't," Lexa agreed with a chuckle. "I still can't believe you asked me. Like, I can believe it... but I was so not expecting it."

"Every time I think back to the speech I gave before I asked, I realize more and more how awkward and disconnected it was," Clarke murmured, burying her face into Lexa's neck adorably.

"No, Clarke, it was perfect. Seriously. Couldn't have been more perfect, because you asked me and I'm honestly just in awe that someone as incredible as you would want to marry me." Clarke sighed happily, poking her tongue out of her mouth and against Lexa's neck, causing the brunette to chuckle. "You're not tired from last night?"

"Never!" Clarke was suddenly on top of the brunette, all of her weight pressing down on Lexa's body. Lexa, of course, didn't mind, and brought her hands around to cover her fiancee's smooth ass. She squeezed abruptly, and the blonde squeaked, straddling Lexa instead and grabbing her hands to pin them over her head. "No touching."

"You're demanding this morning."

Clarke's lips turned up in a smirk, and then she began to press hot, open mouthed kisses along Lexa's chest and down to her midriff. She loved when they woke up naked together, because they didn't have to waste any morning sex time with the removal of clothing.

Lexa was already dripping when Clarke settled herself in between her thighs, plenty ready for the blonde to make her scream out her fiancee's name dozens of times.

* * *

Lexa settled into the damp sheets, completely spent. She couldn't even fathom the idea of moving, let alone going out drinking with their friends later, but they still had a few hours until that would happen. After their double rounds that morning, they'd thrown together some meal, had the rest of the wine from Wednesday, and slipped in the shower for another few rounds, barely drying off afterward before falling into bed again. Whether the bed was wet from water, sweat or other certain liquids, Lexa wasn't quite sure. "Fiancee sex is better than normal sex, I think."

Clarke, her chest falling and rising incredibly quickly, rotated her head just enough to look at her fiancee. "Babe, sex is sex, it's all good."

"No, it's better. Just like married sex will be even better. I just know." Lexa quirked up a challenging eyebrow.

"You just know? After your roughly fifteen hours of being engaged?"

"Yes."

Clarke chuckled, pausing to allow her breathing to slow. "I guess this whole day of sex has been quite an event. What makes you think married sex will be even better?"

"Because we'll be terrified about the possibility of us putting a halt to our sex lives just because we're married, so then we'll find ways to spice it up even more, and it'll get even better. Plus, sex with you is always amazing anyway," Lexa insisted.

"Hold on, are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting? Because I have tried plenty of those ways to spice it up before I met you, and they all went horribly."

Lexa rolled her eyes. "Okay, but you didn't try any of those things with me, so you don't know what it'll be like. We should try somethings sometime, and if we don't like them, we don't have to do them ever again."

"I guess there's no harm in that." Clarke let out a deep breath, her left hand locating Lexa's right and grabbing it. "I mean, hopefully not. I just can't believe you're thinking of stuff like that right now. I can hardly move. How are we going to go clubbing tonight?"

"Very carefully?"

"Maybe we should just stay in bed for the rest of the day?"

"Uh, no. We are going to get up, and you're going to shower while I get these sheets off of this bed and put them in the laundry, and then I'm going to shower afterward while you get ready to go, and then when the laundry is done, we'll go out," Lexa insisted.

Clarke scoffed. "Ugh, so responsible."

"Someone has to be."

Suddenly, Clarke's phone began ringing loudly, eliciting a groan from the blonde immediately. "If you're the responsible one, does that mean you'll answer my phone for me?"

"I'm not a secretary, Clarke."

Forcing her stiff body to move, Clarke leaned over the edge of the bed and grabbed her phone from where it was blaring on the floor. It was a call from Raven, apparently the fourth – the first three happening when they were in the shower. "Hey, Raven, what's up?"

"Uh, you two disappeared from the text message universe hours ago, and neither of you have picked up your phones! We thought you guys might have died!" Raven exclaimed.

"Oh, nope. No dying. Lots of sex, though. Lots and lots. It's been great. Anyway. How can I help you?"

Raven gagged. "Oh my god, that's – okay, anyway. We're all at Octavia's place right now, and were planning on going out in a couple of hours, but you guys are welcome to join us here anytime before then. We're pregaming."

"Of course you are."

"You guys coming or not?"

"Not anymore, we've come plenty enough times so far today."

"Clarke! Not what I meant!"

Clarke smirked. "Yeah, we'll be there. Apparently we have to like, laundry... and like, shower."

"Yeah, please do both of those things before turning up here, thanks. See you." The line ended, and Clarke looked over to her fiancee to see green eyes gaping at her.

"Clarke!"

"What? It was just Raven."

"You are ridiculous."

"I know."

* * *

"Hey bitch," Octavia greeted as she opened the door for Clarke, "I can't believe you told Raven you were proposing to Lexa and didn't tell me!"

"Hello to you, too, O."

"Clarke! This is a serious matter! You have some major explaining to do!"

Bellamy scoffed, pulling his sister away from the couple. "Leave her alone, Octavia," he insisted, and Clarke and Lexa were finally able to enter the apartment.

"C! L!" Raven exclaimed, sounding like her pregaming had maybe gone too far. Niylah had a hold of her, though, and looked thoroughly amused as the brunette began to rush over to the door. "Lexa! Lemme see the ring!" Lexa laughed, extending her hand for the group around them to observe it.

"Wow, that's nice," Niylah commented, nodding with approval to Clarke, who grinned proudly.

Octavia sniffed. "Mine's better." She extended her hand to offer the comparison, and Clarke rolled her eyes.

"Yours is good for your finger, Lexa's is good for hers. Everyone's different, O, it's not all a competition."

"Oh yeah? So how come you magically proposed like, a week after Lincoln proposed to me?"

Raven snickered. "It's not all about you, Octavia. Clarke's been planning this since like, before Aden even visited them."

"And no one told me?" Octavia whined.

Jasper and Monty were suddenly breaking apart the discussion. "Guys, I think maybe we should stay in here tonight. First of all, half of us are far too drunk already to be going out anywhere in public, and second of all, there's supposed to be crazy storming tonight."

"Works for me," Lexa agreed. "We did see storm clouds on the way over here. We took the subway – it was more packed than normal."

"Clarke's taking the subway now?" Bellamy asked in surprise.

Lexa smirked as Clarke felt her cheeks redden, knowing what was coming. "Well, Clarke and I have had a busy day today, and it actually kind of hurts for us to sit, so we figured we'd stand in a crowded subway as opposed to anything else."

"Oh my god," Octavia muttered, shaking her head and pushing away from the group. "Fine, let's stay in. Lincoln? Where's the vodka? Someone needs to make drinks."

Lincoln laughed. "I've got it babe, go sit down."

"Ugh, all you couples are disgusting," Raven muttered, even as she clung to her girlfriend. Niylah rolled her eyes, clearly aware of how intoxicated Raven was.

About an hour later, they were all significantly intoxicated, and Lexa had gotten a phone call from Luna. She picked it up and found herself being congratulated by her friend in a much more enthusiastic manner than earlier that morning. It was during that conversation that Lexa realized she had completely forgotten to text her mom, so she did so as soon as Luna hung up, and her mom replied instantly with a congratulations and an insistence that she enjoy the rest of her weekend and call her on Monday. Lexa figured that was fair.

By the time she was done dealing with that, the lights began to flicker in the apartment as thunder boomed in the city around them, and then they went out completely. Their drunk hangout immediately began a very escalated slumber party, and Lincoln and Octavia drunkenly retrieved pillows and blankets from both their bedroom and the spares from their closets, tossing them around the living room. Everyone began to settle into positions around the room while Bellamy raided the fridge and cupboards for any food worthy of their new type of party, that wouldn't require any sort of heating. Eventually, he found a packet of some chocolate wafer desserts in the back of one of the cupboards, which Octavia claimed she had forgotten about. So they all sat around the dark room, their phones the only source of light, snacking on wafers and talking animatedly about any and everything.

The power came back on sometime at around three in the morning, but at that point, everyone was asleep.

Except for Lexa, who actually had fallen asleep earlier and woke up at the lights flickering back on. Too tired to move from her position as Clarke's little spoon on the floor, she let the lights stay on, observing the diamonds on her fingers as they bounced the light around. She felt her heart rate pick up when she thought about Friday, and how it had gone from a typical, sweet date into possibly the best day of her entire life. She was sure that the title would be overwritten by some other day in the future – namely her wedding day – but right now, it was on top. And honestly, what was there to be upset about when a day like that could exist? When someone like Clarke could exist?

Clarke woke up about ten minutes after Lexa, nudging the brunette gently with her nose and murmuring, "You awake, love?"

"Mmhmm."

"Is the light bothering you?"

"No. Just looking at my ring."

Clarke adjusted her position a little so that her chin was resting on Lexa's shoulder, and her hand came around to touch the ring. "You like it, right?"

"I love it," Lexa whispered, "and I love you. It just doesn't feel real, any of it. It's too amazing. What did I do to deserve this, to deserve you?"

"You didn't have to do anything to deserve me, Lexa. Sometimes love isn't about what we deserve... You and I are both good enough people that we deserve so many things – like perfect parents. Frankly, though, I am more than content to have you and all of our friends, and our one great parent who I am pretty much going to get to officially share with you pretty soon," Clarke murmured happily.

"You were like a daughter-in-law to my mom before you even thought of proposing to me, Clarke," Lexa reminded her fiancee. There was silence in between them for a moment, and all that could be heard was the gentle breathing of their friends sleeping around them. "Where do you wanna get married?"

"Wherever you want."

"Clarke, you have to actually answer the question, because I have no clue."

"Well, neither do I. We have a while to figure it out, though. There isn't a time bomb on this ring, you know," Clarke murmured, touching the ring again and then intertwining her fingers with the brunette's. "I figured you'd probably want to at least graduate college before we actually have the wedding."

"I guess that's only a little over a year and a half away. We could have a summer wedding right afterward," Lexa said thoughtfully.

"Whatever you want, beautiful."

Another pause. "Did you do this only for me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you propose because you thought it was what I wanted? I don't want you to marry me if you don't entirely want to, Clarke."

Clarke's hand released Lexa's and her arms tightened around the brunette's waist. "Lexa. I want to marry you so fucking badly, because it means being with you forever and ever, and that if I do something dumb you can't just leave me in a handful of seconds."

"Like that would happen..."

"Just because I don't really care where or when or how it happens doesn't mean that I don't want to, babe. Marriage for me is about being with you. We could go up to the courthouse tomorrow and get our license and be done with it and I wouldn't be mad. I mean, that might be a little soon, because I still can barely even register that we're engaged, but you get the idea," Clarke explained. She paused to press a kiss to her fiancee's neck, and Lexa's entire being relaxed, her eyelids falling shut as tiredness began to take over her. "Okay? I love you, and I want to marry you."

"Good," Lexa mumbled. "Just checking..."

Clarke chuckled. "Go to sleep, cutie."

"Mkay..."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Thank you guys for sticking around for this journey :) This is the final chapter of this story, and this story is the final installment of Ameliorate. Thank you again 3 xx**

* * *

 _Ten Months Later (August)_

Lexa turned the stiff, shiny, piece of card stock over in her hands. The lettering written across it was pretty plain in comparison to some wedding invitations, but Lexa didn't really like how some invitations were almost impossible to read due to all of the swirling letters and such. Not to say that the invitation wasn't fancy – Alexandria had assumed the job of head wedding planner, apparently something she had always wanted to do, and Lexa and Clarke had given that title to her with glee.

Sure, wedding planning could be fun, and both of them had experienced their fair share of it so far, but there was also work, and school for Lexa. Alexandria had volunteered instantly to lead the planning and also to pay for it – though Clarke had argued with her extensively. Lexa was probably the only reason that Clarke had given in to let Alexandria pay for most of it. Alexandria had also hired an official wedding planner, but Lexa wasn't even sure if whoever that was had done very much, because it seemed like her mom had taken complete charge.

Now, however, Lexa was looking at the neatly written out name of her father. She'd asked her mom to print it, and her mom hadn't argued. Alexandria had also taken the liberty of printing one for each of Clarke's parents. She would obviously let Clarke decide whether those would be sent, but Lexa was glaring at her father's invitation.

Suddenly, two hands were placed gently on Lexa's shoulders, and then slid down her arms. "Whatcha doing, cutie?"

"Trying to decide whether to send this," Lexa answered, exhaling deeply and leaning back into her seat. "I feel like I can't really invite Aden without giving Anthony an invitation, too. Aden's not even going to be fifteen."

"I'm sure Anthony would let him come."

"Okay, but Macie? That woman is bat shit crazy."

Clarke hummed thoughtfully. "That's true. You haven't really talked to Anthony much, though." Lexa nodded, her eyes still trained on the card.

"I think I'll send it. Might as well. It's not like I'm asking him to be in the wedding – that's not happening by any means. But I guess there couldn't be a downside to him coming. He's only ever wanted me to be happy, I mean... he's not done the best job at it necessarily, but still," Lexa reasoned.

"Go for it then. What are those that aren't in the pile of other ones?"

Lexa looked up over her shoulder at her fiancee. "I was going through all of them and those two are addressed to your parents."

"Oh." Clarke stepped around the table and took a seat at the chair next to Lexa, picking up the invitations and turning them over to look at the names. "Well, I guess that was nice of Alexandria to get them printed. I think I'll trash them, though."

"I figured you'd want to," Lexa admitted, "but I didn't want to do anything with them on your behalf."

"My mom wouldn't wanna come under an circumstances – unless of course you'd morphed into a guy and I'd suddenly decided to subject myself to her awful parenting in exchange for tons of cash. My dad... I mean... ugh, I hate thinking about this," Clarke muttered.

"Don't stress over it," Lexa insisted, "if you didn't think to invite him beforehand, I mean..."

Clarke nodded. "I don't think I'm ready. Does that make me an awful person?"

"No, babe. You should do what you feel like you need to do." Lexa watched her fiancee carefully as the blonde stood up, tearing both of the invitations in half and padding over to the garbage can in the kitchen.

"Not going to think about it anymore," Clarke breathed out. "Why are weddings so stressful?"

Lexa grinned at Clarke as the blonde turned around. "I don't know, but does it really matter when the end result is us getting to be married?"

"You are such a sappy dork," Clarke teased, coming back over to the table and snatching the invitation to Lexa's dad out of her hand and setting it on the tabletop. "Come on, stop staring at that thing. We're not sending these till Monday anyway." Clarke's hands took Lexa's firmly and pulled her up off of her chair.

"You make a valid point."

"You excited to start your last undergrad year of college?" Clarke asked with a soft smile, pulling Lexa's front to press against her own and wrapping her arms around her.

Lexa laughed lightly. "I guess. It's kind of weird to think that after hyping up this whole four years thing, I'm just going to take out a couple more loans and go to grad school. I really want to, though, and I'm sure it'll be awesome. Except, I mean, in twelve years when I'll still be paying off student loans."

Clarke smirked. "Maybe my art will be worth millions by then and we can pay them off early."

"Well that would be nice," Lexa agreed with a grin. "I don't wanna think about it right now, though."

"I'm sure there are plenty other things that we could be thinking about," Clarke murmured. Her hands moved from where they'd rested on Lexa's lower back and slid down to cover her ass instead. Lexa blushed.

"Yeah, for example, the fact that your gallery opens on Saturday and we decided to party with everyone after going, and you still haven't picked where you want everyone to meet up. Raven is like, high key concerned about how far from Niylah's work it is. In fact, her obsessing over it has driven poor Niylah into texting me about it," Lexa stated. "Oh, and also the fact that next weekend, Luna and Anya are coming up and we have to entertain them – though I am so glad that they are staying in a hotel together this time. Last time, having them both squeeze on the couch was... yeah, let's never do that again. Wait, and there's that Aden keeps pestering me about visiting him in New Jersey, but there's no way I'm going down there where my dad and his crazy ex-wife are, so we need to figure out a way to get Aden to come stay with us again for a weekend or something... Hmm, I'm sure there are a billion other things, too..."

"Oh my god," Clarke cut her off, "you are going to be the death of me, Lexa."

"Yeah, as if I'd be the death of you... But fine, we can think about something other than those..."

"How about we both stop thinking about anything other than this," Clarke murmured, hands suddenly sliding into Lexa's back pockets, squeezing her ass gently, "agree?"

Lexa smirked, closing the distance between them with a kiss. They were lost for a moment in the connection and each other's lips and tongues, and then when they finally broke apart for air, Lexa agreed, "Sounds good to me," and they stumbled off to their bedroom.

* * *

"I am probably way too excited about the fact that this is Anya's last year of undergrad," Luna huffed out, and Lexa half smiled as she stared up at the ceiling. The best thing about the summer was that aside from working, Lexa had very little to do. Of course, there was planning the wedding, but with her mom basically on top of that, she had a lot of time to talk to and spend time with her friends, and Clarke. That was the one reason that she herself wasn't psyched about starting her senior year of school, or the fact that she would be going on to graduate school afterward. She'd already made the executive decision that she wasn't going for her doctorate degree – both money and the fact that she didn't really care much about it contributed to that decision. She could get a decent job on a graduate degree, anyway.

"I don't blame you, but I mean, she's going on to law school afterward."

Luna laughed. "Yeah, and you know where law school isn't? Polis. I'm so done with being here while you guys are all there. I mean, I love staying here with Anya and I'm not about to leave without her... but like, I can't wait to be out of here. I was going to say I bet that Clarke is glad this is your last year too, but then I remembered that even you're going on to do more school."

"Yeah well, lucky for me, I get to stay right here," Lexa said happily. "And Clarke's not mad or anything. It's not like we're not used to me being in college."

"Why did you decide to get a master's again?"

Lexa hummed. "Well, lots of the like, top psychologist jobs come with a PhD, but there are plenty you can get with a master's – like the one I've been interning for since moving here last year. So there's not really a point for me to get a PhD, but if I want this job for real, I have to go to graduate school. I like college though, I don't really mind."

"Well, I think you're crazy," Luna commented. "Anya is crazier though. I can't imagine going to a billion years of school just to end up standing in front of a judge all the time defending a bunch of randoms."

Lexa smirked. "Doesn't Anya want to become a persecutor?"

"She's still deciding, but I guess yeah. Either way, I could never do it."

"Leave it to Anya then," Lexa teased, getting a huff from her friend.

"Duh." Her friend let out a pleased sigh. "Well. Anya will probably be back from work soon. I kind of wish I worked later than her, because coming home to her would probably be way more satisfying than laying around waiting."

Lexa chuckled. "Clarke always comes home before me."

"Yeah, yeah, you're perfect, we know," Luna teased. "So what are your plans for the weekend? I'm sure they're more interesting than mine."

"We're going to Clarke's gallery opening tomorrow, and that ends at around five, so then we're going out with everyone to get drinks and celebrate. You?"

Luna groaned. "That is so much better than mine. Ugh, Anya's having lunch with her parents tomorrow, which is bound to go on well into the evening. Normally, I would've used the opportunity to hang out with my parents, but seeing as they've moved, I've got nothing to do. I'll probably just pick up an extra shift."

"Aw, I'm sorry."

"I'll be fine. One more year, and I'll be there with you, and we'll all be partying it up all the damn time. Oh – Anya's home! I'll call you Monday, and I expect a full run through of Clarke's awesome art stuff!" Luna exclaimed.

"Of course! Have a good night, and tell Anya I say hey!"

* * *

Raven nudged Clarke, nearly causing the blonde to spill her margarita all over the bar. "Oops," the brunette giggled out. "Where's your fiancee, C?"

"She went with Octavia to the bathroom," Clarke replied, sipping her margarita. "You a little drunk already?"

Raven grinned. "Maybe a little."

"Raven, jeez, you can't just disappear like that," Niylah's voice scolded as the taller girl suddenly appeared pushing through the crowd.

Raven looked at her girlfriend with a frown. "I thought you were right behind me, babe." Niylah just rolled her eyes, until Raven's frown turned into a pout and Niylah couldn't resist but lean down to peck her girlfriend's lips. Clarke smiled softly and sipped her margarita again. Octavia and Lexa broke the moment of peace as they rushed the bar, the former already speaking before anyone could react.

"Guys, let's dance! C'mon, c'mon!" Octavia pleaded.

Clarke shook her head. "I'm okay." Lexa gave her fiancee a concerned look, but the blonde just smiled. "I'm really tired from the gallery opening. You go dance."

"I'll stay with Clarke," Niylah offered, and Octavia just shrugged as she grabbed Lexa and Raven and pulled them both out onto the dance floor. Niylah leaned against the bar and ordered a drink.

"Raven's a handful, huh?" Clarke teased.

The other girl rolled her eyes. "She is. And somehow I still love her. And just so you know, you and Octavia both being engaged as got her in the sappiest fucking mood all the time. I mean, not that I'm complaining, but it's crazy. From what I've heard, she was the most romantically detached person before."

"Yeah, she wasn't ever really into it. But I think that's just because she was one of the singles while the rest of us were getting into relationships, and she had to cope with being alone," Clarke admitted. "She really loves you, though. And she's lucky to have you."

Niylah smiled. "Well I'm glad you think so." Her beer was set down in front of her, and she happily took it and downed half of the drink. Niylah glanced out into the crowd, as if looking for her girlfriend, and then back at Clarke. "Do you think Raven would want to get married some day?"

"You should probably ask her that," Clarke offered with a chuckle.

"Of course, but do you think she would?"

Clarke hummed thoughtfully for a moment. "Well, I think she'd definitely be open to it. I mean, if I'm getting married, then anyone can get married. Seriously. And like I said, Raven loves you, so I'm sure she'd marry you someday." Niylah nodded.

"Do you ever still doubt it? Getting married?"

Clarke shrugged. "Not really. I kinda like... slowly recognized that it doesn't really mean much of a change for me and Lexa. We've lived together for years, we have our whole routine worked out, we support each other to no end. We basically share all of our money at this point, so it really is going to just be the same between us – added in some nice rings and a fancy certificate of course. Plus, you know, the whole wedding ordeal. I've gotta admit though, I think I'm more excited for the honeymoon."

The other girl laughed, tilting her head. "Did you guys decide where you're going to go?"

"I told Lexa to pick, but she doesn't want to, so I picked Paris and she doesn't know it yet," Clarke admitted. "Though, the reason I haven't told her yet is because I have to make sure I'll be able to scrape the money together. We're lucky that so much of our wedding is being paid for by Lexa's mom, so I'm just kind of hoping that that means I'll have the money to take us to Paris for a few days."

"Honestly, I bet Lexa wouldn't care where you guys went, she'd just wanna be with you."

Clarke laughed brightly, taking another sip of her drink as her cheeks reddened. "Yes, I suppose so. I guess you're catching onto this sappy thing fairly well."

"Yeah well, we can all blame Raven for that."

Bellamy was suddenly stumbling over to them, a dopey grin on his face. He was clearly very much intoxicated, something that Clarke had to get used to about half a year ago when he began to let himself relax a bit more with alcohol. Of course, he was always very responsible, but now that he didn't have to be a sober driver all of the time, he had begun to drink more. Not an excessive amount, but quite a bit more than the years earlier. "Clarke! I forgot to tell you earlier at the gallery that your paintings were so, so, so good. Seriously, so good."

Clarke grinned. "I'm pretty sure that you did tell me that earlier, but thanks, Bell."

"Have you seen Ella? She's supposed to get here soon. She's really sorry she couldn't come to your gallery, BTW."

"Did you just say BTW out loud?" Niylah asked with a smirk, and Bellamy just looked to her with confusion.

"Maybe you should drink some water before Ella gets here so she doesn't get pissed at us for letting you get drunk," Clarke suggested, waving down a bartender and getting Bellamy a water. Ella was his girlfriend of over half a year now. During the whole first three months of his relationship with her, the entire friend group had basically been crossing their fingers that it would work out – because Ella was really nice and honestly perfect for Bellamy. So far, things were going well, and they were even considering getting a place together soon. That left Monty and Jasper having to deal with an empty room and a missing third of the rent, but they were torn between finding a new roommate, or getting a new place for the two of them. Honestly, Clarke was just glad to not have to worry about stuff like that. Her living situation was set in stone.

Actually what made it even better is that with all of her art moved to her gallery, her art room in their apartment was much less cluttered, so it made room for the table in the corner to be pulled out a bit with the chairs properly placed around it. It would be a nice, easy place for Lexa to do homework, which Clarke was happy about. She honestly kind of missed that from Polis – when Clarke would paint at one end of the room knowing that Lexa was doing homework in the same space. Somehow, it was just comforting.

Clarke was spontaneously broken out of her thoughts when Lincoln came up to the group, his arm around Octavia, who looked sick. "She just ran into the bathroom and threw up," Lincoln admitted with a frown, "so we're going to head out."

"Okay," Clarke said, "yeah you definitely should. You gonna be okay, O?"

"Yeah, I think whatever I had with dinner did not want to mix with alcohol, because I did not drink enough to make myself puke," Octavia muttered. "I'll text you guys tomorrow." As they left, Raven and Lexa suddenly appeared.

"Is she okay?" Raven asked.

Bellamy nodded, then slurring out, "She'll be fine, just ate something bad for dinner."

"Whoa, someone is drunk," Lexa teased, raising her eyebrows at the guy, who scowled.

"I'm not that drunk," he denied, his words connected in one long slur.

Clarke smirked. "I feel bad for Ella once she gets here."

Bellamy excused himself to go the bathroom, and Raven slid into the spot he'd been occupying and began to talk to Niylah, her own words slurring quite a bit.

Lexa shifted over to Clarke and leaned against the blonde, whose arm stretched and wrapped around her waist. "You still tired?" Lexa murmured, burying her face in Clarke's hair and nipping at her ear. Clarke couldn't fight the smile that forced its way onto her lips.

"Yeah, but I'll be fine if you wanna stay longer."

"No, we can go," Lexa insisted. "It was a long day, anyway."

Clarke nodded, setting down her mostly empty glass and pushing away from the bar. Lexa pulled her face out of blonde hair and the two of them looked to Niylah and Raven, who looked seconds away from sticking their tongues down each other's throats. "We're heading out. Mind letting Bell know when he comes out of the bathroom?"

Niylah nodded as Raven attached her lips to her neck, surprising the taller girl, who let out a slight squeak. "Yeah, I'll let him know," she said hastily. "We might head out pretty soon as well, but we'll make sure to find Jasper and Monty and give them Bellamy before we do."

Clarke smirked. "Cool. We'll see you guys later."

As they exited the club, Lexa clasped Clarke's hand with her own. "What were you and Niylah talking about?"

"Raven mostly, and also the wedding," Clarke replied vaguely. "I think I know where I want to take you for our honeymoon, but I don't know if we'll be able to afford it..."

"Ooh where?" Lexa asked excitedly, and by the way she was talking and clinging to the blonde, Clarke knew that she was quite a bit tipsy.

"Paris?"

Lexa's jaw dropped. "For real? We can go to Paris?"

"If we have the money, yes," Clarke answered, chuckling. "I'm going to give the gallery a few weeks and see if the cash it brings it seems like it'll be able to support us doing a trip like that. Or else we might have to go somewhere closer and save Paris for our first or second anniversary or something."

Lexa hummed. "Either way works for me. I just wanna be with you, so."

"Sappy."

"Yes."

"We don't even try to deny it anymore, do we?" Clarke chuckled. "Apparently Raven has been extra sappy lately because of all the engagement stuff happening around her."

A small giggle escaped from Lexa's lips. "Do you think she'll get even worse after Lincoln and Octavia get married in the winter?"

"One hundred percent," Clarke said seriously, before laughing as well. "Who knows, maybe she'll propose to Niylah next year. I feel like they're both old enough that they wouldn't wait very long."

"I can picture them being married," Lexa murmured. They were about halfway to their apartment now – Clarke loved that they lived so close to one of the good clubs in the area. "There's a lot of marrying happening."

"Yeah well, that's what happens when we're all getting past midway through our twenties – all except for you, of course."

There was a pause as they walked through the still slightly warm night, and then Lexa pulled slightly away from her fiancee to look at her. "Do you think that Luna and Anya will ever get married?"

Clarke smirked. "Honestly, Lexa, I have no idea. Luna and Anya are insane, and half of the time, I think that their relationship is going to end in a matter of days, and the other half of the time, it's like no one could ever picture them without each other."

"I guess you're right. I don't know, I think I'm just going to be perpetually worried about them."

"That's because you are like a mom to your friends all the time," Clarke teased. "Come on, beautiful, let's get home."

* * *

Lexa woke up to a shriek, causing her to jump up in alarm, her eyes immediately wide and searching for fiancee. Clarke was nowhere to be seen, but the bedroom door was ajar, and Lexa leaped up and went for the door.

Clarke was standing in the kitchen, waving a hand towel around over the stove, where smoke was beginning to billow up. "What on earth?" Lexa exclaimed, very much awake thanks to the abrupt wake up call, despite the slight headache she could feel from drinking the previous night. "Clarke, what did you do?"

"I just..." Clarke's voice cut off as she furiously waved the towel around to dissipate the last of the smoke. "Ugh." She turned back to face the brunette. "I was trying to make eggs."

"Seriously? Why?"

"I don't know, seemed like a nice thing to do, plus I'm hungry and I don't want to go anywhere. As you can tell, I failed."

Lexa snickered a little, walking all the way into the kitchen. The destroyed eggs were in a pile of disgusting mush in the pan. "Okay, I know that I'm not really the greatest cook ever, but how the hell did you do that? Did you leave it in here and like, forget about it?"

"I might have left the room for a second..." Clarke crossed her arms, releasing a huff. "I hate cooking. I feel like I've stooped to Bellamy skill level of cooking. This is not okay."

"How about you sit down, and I'll attempt to make some eggs."

"Ah, that'd be awesome, except we're out of eggs now."

Lexa rolled her eyes. "Okay, something we need to do before we get married is get our food situation in order. We can't just eat out all the time." Clarke immediately smirked and opened her mouth to make some sexual remark, but Lexa cut her off, "You know what I mean! But seriously, you and I both need to learn how to not destroy food, or else we are going to keep draining all our money on buying Chipotle and Subway."

"But I love Chipotle..."

Lexa tried to give her fiancee a scolding look, but she ended up just smiling at how adorable the blonde was, shaking her head, and heading into the kitchen. She opened one of their cabinets, observing their limited food supply. Among the random assortment of items was a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese, and Lexa swiftly grabbed it out.

"Mac and cheese for breakfast?"

"You're hungry, aren't you?"

Half an hour later, Clarke and Lexa were back in bed with bowls of warm macaroni and cheese. Clarke shoveled some into her mouth and hummed happily. After swallowing, she murmured, "Well, I'm glad you're better at cooking than I am."

"Mm, I just can't believe you woke up early to make food."

"I was hungry," Clarke muttered dejectedly, causing Lexa to smile softly and lean into her fiancee. They sat there in a comfortable silence, and when they finished their macaroni, they moved the empty bowls over to the nightstand and spread across the bed, their feet nudging each other under the blankets.

Sunday mornings had become very relaxed like this – generally neither of them had very much to do, at least not until the afternoon, and it was one of the few mornings that they got any moment of complete silence, so to speak, without the world butting in. In comparison to the year they'd had previously, this whole year had actually been relatively calm. She had a feeling the upcoming year would be more chaotic than ever, what with her graduation from her undergrad program, as well as her and Clarke's wedding.

Thinking about that made Lexa's lips tug up into a smile. "You ever think about when we first met?"

"Actually, I try not to, because then I just get this gross image of you almost having sex with Finn in my head... of god, there it is," Clarke grumbled as a laugh bubbled out of Lexa.

"That is gross. But I meant just like, in general. That time period."

"Oh yeah, all the time. I looked way hotter back then."

Lexa scoffed, turning on her side and looking to her fiancee. "Clarke, you are still just as hot as you were four years ago."

"Liar."

"I am not lying."

Clarke narrowed her eyes, but then a smile broke through and she rolled her eyes. "Four years is a long time, babe."

"Are you saying that I'm less hot now too?"

A look of panic slid over the blonde's face for a moment, and then she narrowed her eyes. "No. You've just gotten hotter. But I've got almost four years on you, cutie."

"Oh shut up, you're beautiful, Clarke."

Clarke blushed and finally gave in, bringing her hands up and covering her reddened face. "You shut up," she murmured. Lexa chuckled, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Clarke's still exposed cheek. She then grabbed Clarke's hands and peeled them away. Clarke allowed her, and then intertwined their fingers, playing with Lexa's softly.

Lexa smiled softly at her fiancee. "I just can't believe that four years ago, my life felt so out of control, and then I met you and somehow everything just kind of fell into place."

"There were some bumps in the road, babe."

"So? Doesn't change how perfect everything is right now," Lexa insisted.

"Mm, well you're not wrong. You're like the only person I could have ever ended up like this with."

"What? Sappy as fuck and looking like a blushing idiot?" Lexa said it with sweetness that she knew wouldn't let Clarke's attempt at a scowl hold for more than a handful of seconds. The blonde, sure enough, tried to glare at the brunette, only to blush and puff out some air.

"Yes."

"Well, I'm glad that I've brought out this side of you, because it's adorable and the world deserves to see it."

Clarke groaned. "No, just you."

"All of our friends have seen it."

"Well, let's pretend that hasn't happened."

"Why? You're so cute when you're all mushy."

"Leave me alone," Clarke whined, causing Lexa to giggle and give in, not saying anything else. They were quiet for a moment, and when Clarke spoke again, her voice was quiet, careful. "Do you think your mom would mind printing one more invitation for me? It doesn't matter if it sends a little late."

"Of course not. Who for?"

"My dad."

Lexa turned her head slightly, looking curiously at the blonde, whose eyes were closed. "You wanna invite him?"

"I think that I should. I've spent years hating him for not being the dad I needed when I needed him, but now, I don't really need him to be anyway other than just... not an asshole. And when we talked to him before we moved here, he was fine, you know... like, not awful. And I don't know... I mean... Everything feels so perfect now and I don't know, I keep thinking what if he dies or something, and I get a phone call and feel like shit because I didn't even try to talk to him? And he's still healing – Abby fucked him over just as much if not more as she did to me, and that's not his fault. I think it would be good for both of us to talk again, you know?"

"That's awesome, Clarke, I think you definitely should if you feel like it's the right thing," Lexa murmured. "When I met him, it was clear that he loves you, and he feels awful for what he did."

"I just think I'd regret it someday if I don't. And I guess I never know what will happen."

Lexa nodded, and a pause settled between them again. "I think I'll send that invitation to my dad too. I mean, I pretty much decided that I should already, since Aden's coming, but why not? It's not like he has to walk me down the aisle. I already asked my mom to do that anyway."

"And see, that is why I so willingly accepted the idea of not being the one to walk down the aisle – I don't have anyone to do it."

"I bet Bellamy would've walked you."

"He probably would've, but still. It's a bigger deal for you. Nobody but you has any hold over me, so anyone giving me away to you would really make no sense," Clarke said lightly. "The more we talk about it, the more I get filled with like, nervous excitement. What kind of person have you turned me into?"

"Like I said, a sappy one."

"Mm, yeah. I guess I don't care that much, though."

Lexa sighed happily, letting her eyes flicker closed as she focused on the feeling of Clarke playing with her hands. A little over four years ago, she had been a quiet, perfect teenage girl, and she had aggressively broken out of that bubble in a series of questionable actions, only to meet the woman she was destined to be with by some stroke of insane luck. Not everything had been perfect, of course, but here they were now, and Lexa would not ever want it any other way. With this beautiful, badass, blushing blonde next to her, she felt safe, complete, strangely pristine despite everything she'd been through. She briefly wondered if Clarke felt the same way despite her even more complicated past.

Clarke adjusted herself slightly on the bed, turning onto her side and curling into Lexa, who smiled even wider and shifted so that she could wrap her arms around her fiancee. Burying her face in blonde hair, which smelled somewhat fruity from her shampoo, Lexa inhaled and then exhaled happily.

"I can't wait to marry you."


End file.
